Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said a “nontraditional war” without weapons was being waged against the his country, which had faced a number of large power outages over the recent weeks.
“It is a nontraditional war against public services in order to make the country uncontrollable and come to power through chaos and violence,” Maduro said in an address broadcast on his Periscope channel on Thursday.
Maduro suggested that Venezuela was facing an attempted “electricity coup and a nontraditional war” conducted by the United States and the Venezuelan opposition.
The president added that the authorities have been resisting these overthrow attempts and were moving the country toward peace, stability and national unity.
Speaking live on national television on Thursday, Maduro called on Venezuelans to set up water storage hubs across the country to ensure there is enough water in case of new electricity outages.
“I am insisting that at this stage of fighting against imperialistic attacks on critical systems, all Venezuelans should save water and organize reserves on the level of communes,” Maduro claimed.
The president also instructed a water tank factory to increase its output.
Moreover, Maduro suggested that Venezuela’s ministries should create special groups in WhatsApp messaging platform to communicate information to the public amid the attacks on the Venezuelan infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Minister of Water Administration Evelyn Vasquez said the operation of water pumping stations had been restored in the majority of Venezuela’s regions, adding that some of the areas still lacked water supply.
In March, Venezuela suffered from several large blackouts caused by what the authorities called US attacks on the Venezuelan power grid. Washington has denied any involvement in the power failures.
The crisis in the energy industry erupted amid a political crisis in Venezuela. The turmoil began in January, when opposition leader Juan Guaidoproclaimed himself Venezuela’s interim president.
Guaido is supported by the United States, the Lima Group and more than 50 other countries. Menawhile, Maduro, supported by China and Russia among other states, and has accused Guaido of plotting to overthrow him with backing from the U.S.
