Power cuts bring Venezuela to a standstill

A widespread power cut affecting much of Venezuela has continued ahead of planned protests on Saturday.

President Nicolás Maduro and the US-backed opposition trying to oust him have blamed each other for the outage.

Hospitals struggled to cope and at least one hospital patient died when her respirator stopped working.

The power cuts, which started on Thursday, have reportedly been caused by problems at a major hydroelectric plant.

Venezuela depends on its vast hydroelectric infrastructure, rather than its oil reserves, for its domestic electricity supply. But decades of underinvestment have damaged the major dams, and sporadic blackouts are commonplace.

President Maduro, however, has blamed the outages on “sabotage”.

In a defiant tweet early on Saturday he vowed to battle the “brutal aggression against our people”, adding: “We will never surrender.”

Power supplies in Caracas appeared to be erratic on Saturday morning. Traffic lights in some areas were back in action but the city´s metro remained closed, reports said. Fourteen of Venezuela´s 23 states are still affected by the outrages, El Nacional newspaper reported.

Venezuelans, meanwhile, are bracing themselves for a weekend of pro- and anti-government protests.

Police were out in force on the road in Caracas where Saturday´s opposition march was planned. Even before the rally began, some protesters were hit by pepper spray fired by officers, La Patilla news website said.

On Friday, offices and schools were closed to help efforts to restore electricity, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said. Some hospitals saw chaotic scenes as relatives tried to move patients in the dark to other medical facilities with emergency power generators.

Generators at a Caracas children´s hospital failed, with staff reportedly working overnight using their mobile phones for light.

The situation is getting more and more complicated in Venezuela.