Venezuela: Maduro blames blackout on sniper and tells people to pray

Nicolás Maduro has asked Venezuelans to pray for the country’s recovery from another crippling nationwide blackout, in a crackly and foreboding telephone interview that reinforced the mounting sense of crisis. In a late-night broadcast, Maduro claimed the latest powercut had been caused by a sniper attack on a key part of Venezuela’s energy infrastructure carried out by mercenaries “sent by the coup-mongering right”. “They knew what they were attacking … Only the North American empire has enough hatred, enough wickedness in its brain, enough perversity – has a diabolical enough mind – to order an attack like this,” Maduro said, claiming the supposed long-range rifle attack had caused a devastating fire. “This is a total war,” Venezuela’s authoritarian leader added. “Since they can’t invade the country … they have decided to damage, damage, damage.”More…