There are reports that at least 80 babies dying in Venezuelan hospitals because of the massive power blackouts.
American Senator Marco Rubio, a strident critic of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, has warned the crisis inside the country has taken a rapid and catastrophic turn over the past 72 hours. Bolivia’s former president Jorge Quiroga said Venezuela was on the verge of total collapse and stating that the country was descending into a surreal dystopia of Mad Max and that the time of diplomatic appeasement is over.
The massive blackout crippling Venezuela has fuelled the political standoff between Opposition Leader Juan Guaido , who is recognised as Venezuela’s leader by more than 50 countries, and Mr Maduro, who is clinging to power.
No national data was available about the impact of the power outage, but an NGO said at least 15 patients with advanced kidney disease died after they stopped receiving dialysis treatments in darkened hospitals.
Maduro wrote on Twitter that almost 70 per cent of power had been restored after a cyber attack was reported against the country’s major power plant.
On the other hand, Venezuela’s Health Minister Carlos Alvarado denied the deaths of hospitalized people as a direct result of the power outage affecting the country.According to Alvarado, now more than 96 percent of the electric generators at hospitals are working and critical medical services are operating well.
