Venezuela’s nationwide power outage, which began on March 7, continued on Sunday with President Nicolas Maduro claiming sabotage by the United States. The government suspended school and business activities for Monday, but did not set any time frame for their resumption, Reuters reported.

The outage affected 70% of the country from 5 pm local time on Thursday (2.30 am Indian Standard Time on March 8), Venezuela Analysis reported. Power was restored to most of Caracas, the capital, and to central states such as Miranda, Aragua and Carabobo by Saturday morning, but there was a second power outage soon after. Venezuelan authorities blamed a cyber attack for the outage, the daily said.

Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez told media personnel on March 8 that the “Ardas” computerised system of the Guri Dam was subjected to a cyber attack. He said Venezuela would present evidence of the attack to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The minister also dismissed the Opposition’s charge that 79 people had died in hospitals due to the blackout.

By Sunday evening, power was restored to Caracas and to parts of the western states of Tachira and Barinas. However, many other parts of the country remain in darkness.

Maduro said he would order massive distribution of food and drinkable water starting Monday. However, residents living in Chacao, Caracas, set up barricades on Sunday to protest the blackout. “The food we had in our refrigerators has spoiled, businesses are closed, there’s no communication, not even by cell phone,” Ana Cerrato, 49, told Reuters. “We need help! We are in a humanitarian crisis!”

Incidents of looting of shops and supermarkets have also been reported in Caracas over the weekend. One such looting of a supermarket on a Saturday led to a shootout with police and National Guard troops. The police rounded up about 40 people, tied their hands behind their backs and forced them to lie face down on the ground.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who assumed the presidency in January after claiming that Maduro’s reelection in 2018 was fraudulent, attacked Maduro on Sunday. “The regime at this hour, days after a blackout without precedent, has no diagnosis,” he said.

Venezuela plunged into political turmoil after the United States endorsed Guaidó as president. Guaidó is the leader of the Opposition-led National Assembly, a body Maduro does not recognise. On January 23, Maduro cut diplomatic ties with the US and gave American diplomatic personnel 72 hours to leave the country. However, he later reversed the order. Protestors from both sides had held demonstrations in the country last month.