The US Targets Venezuela's Power Industry to Intimidate Nation

The U.S. has been targeting Venezuela's power grid to intimidate the nation and enable drug trafficking, according to a statement by the Venezuelan deputy defense minister Adm. Alexander Velasquez Bastidas on Wednesday.

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"The United States of America conducts cyberattacks to threaten the country, to enable drug trafficking and drug trade. You know that the electric power system of the country is vulnerable to such attacks," Bastidas said at the Moscow Conference on International Security.

Two massive blackouts hit Venezuela in March 2019. Incidents caused both cases at the country's largest hydroelectric power plant, which were blamed on cyberattacks and "mechanical impact." 

Venezuela's minister for communication and information reported that the suspects had been identified. They are residents in the U.S., Spain, and Colombia, and requests have been submitted to Interpol for their arrest.

In January 2019, an artificial political crisis was initiated in Venezuela when Juan Guaido, former head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, arbitrarily proclaimed himself interim president to oust democratically re-elected President Nicolas Maduro from power. 

Taking advantage of the artificial crisis, the United States and most Western countries followed up with a coercive international campaign against Maduro. They endorsed Guaido while imposing crippling sanctions on Venezuela. The sanctions specifically targeted the country's oil and financial industries. As a result, a total of $5.5 billion of Venezuelan assets have been frozen in international banks. 

Russia, China, Turkey, and several other Latin American nations have been supporting Maduro.