Venezuelans break through on border bridge, Maduro cans electricity minister

Caracas — Hundreds of Venezuelans poured across the Simon Bolivar International Bridge into Colombian territory on Tuesday morning after breaking through the security blockades set up by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).

Venezuelans had been stopped at the Colombian border because they were unable to take the illegal crossings that were now flooded by the rising Tachira River - so they climbed over or got around the barrier of huge shipping containers that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered installed there to prevent citizens from crossing the bridge.

Meanwhile, Colombian Migration Director Christian Kruger said the Maduro government and the GNB are responsible “for whatever happens to people who make a daily crossing between Colombia and Venezuela,” now that they have the blockades to deal with.

“As we have said for almost a month, the decision of the usurper Maduro to block the bridges with shipping containers to stop people from going over them only leads to irregular methods of entry,” during which anything can happen, Kruger told reporters.

Many people continue to get over or around the shipping containers placed on the Venezuelan side last Feb. 27, and which block the middle of the bridge that connects the Colombian city of Cucuta with San Antonio in Venezuela.

Four days before that, Maduro broke off relations with Colombia and closed the three border crossings to Cucuta after the frustrated attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaido, accepted by more than 50 countries as interim president of Venezuela, to bring humanitarian aid into his country, an effort that ended in an outbreak of violence.

Faced with that situation, thousands of people head daily for the illegal crossings known as shortcuts hoping to stock up on food, medicines and hygiene products in Colombia.

Kruger said that “Venezuelans have found themselves forced to use those shortcuts so they can cross into Colombia and then return to their own country” where “they not only have to bribe the Bolivarian National Guard, but now also risk their lives in the torrential waters of the Tachira River.”

“Maduro is playing with the lives of Venezuelans, and this should be condemned by the international community,” the official said.

Last March 15, Colombian police began to run checks on migrants who use the illegal crossings.

As part of the operation they track criminal records, “verify the legality of their ID documents and inspect whatever goods they’re carrying,” Cucuta’s Metropolitan Police commander, Col. Jose Luis Palomino, told reporters at the time.

Meanwhile, most of Caracas on Tuesday was trying to resume its normal activities amid power blackouts, protests in some neighborhoods and a half workday as part of the government’s electricity rationing, although assorted parts of the country remained without any electricity at all.

The capital’s main public transportation service, the metro, began providing regular service on Tuesday, thus improving the mobility of Caracas residents who on Monday had stood in long lines at bus stops around the city waiting for the few operating buses to come by and ferry them to their destinations.

Some businesses, which had also been affected by the massive blackouts in March, also began opening their doors, although others remained shut.

The schools are still not providing classes, but some private universities resumed their activities despite the obligatory day off ordered by the Maduro government.

Potable water supply still has not been fully reestablished although some parts of the capital are getting that service back.

On Tuesday, once again there were protests in some of the residential areas, such as Petare.

There are sectors of Caracas and other states that have been without power since last week.

Residents of the western states of Zulia, Trujillo, Merida and Falcon told EFE that they have not had electricity or water service since last Friday.

In the east, towns in Anzoategui state like Anaco and Bruaual have been without electricity for 30-40 hours, state Gov. Antonio Barreto Sira said on his Twitter account.

Although there has been no official announcement about the situation in other states, on the social networks users are reporting that central states like Aragua and Carabobo are without power.

Since Sunday, electricity has been rationed around the country, although the details of this plan ordered by Maduro have not been released, after the massive blackouts last month which the government attributes to “sabotage” and “terrorism” against the country’s main Guri hydroelectric plant.

Maduro blames the opposition and the United States for “cybernetic attacks” and long-range sniper fire that disabled the electric grid.

Venezuela’s frequent blackouts have largely paralyzed the country, given that the Internet, the water supply, business, communications and transport have all been shut down or at least paralyzed to varying degrees.

In government news, Maduro fired Electric Energy Minister Gen. Luis Motta Dominguez and replaced him with Igor Gavidia, an engineer whose top priority will be dealing with the continuing power outages across Venezuela.

“I want to thank comrade ... Motta Dominguez, who has gone through four years of constant wars at the head of the Electricity Ministry and Corpoelec. I have asked him to rest for a while, I have asked him to prepare for other responsibilities in the field of revolution,” Maduro said Monday.

The president said in an address to the nation that the new minister is an electrical engineer with 25 years of experience in the industry.

Gavidia will also serve as chairman of state-owned utility Corporacion Electrica (Corpoelec).

This is the first time Maduro has appointed someone who is not a military officer to head this ministry. Motta’s predecessor was Jesse Chacon, a former military officer.

Gavidia took over the post a day after the government launched a power-rationing plan that Maduro said marked the start of “the new stage that we have to open to defeat the electric war.”

The president said he appointed Freddy Brito as head of the Science and Technology Ministry, which has been reactivated as a Cabinet department.

Maduro also created the Executive Secretariat of the Electricity General Staff, which will be under Interior and Justice Minister Nestor Reverol.

The secretariat “must operate 24 hours a day in coordination, review and permanent action,” Maduro said.

The president said classes would resume on Wednesday. Classes were suspended on March 25 following a series of blackouts across the country.

“We are returning to class in the schools, high schools, colleges and universities, gradually ... going back to class in resistance,” Maduro said, adding that adults needed to tell children about “the terrorist attacks we are experiencing.”

On Sunday, protests broke out in Caracas as residents woke to yet another blackout that affected several regions.

Officials have blamed the outages on “sabotage” against the National Electric System (SEN), which has been dealing with power outages for weeks.

The latest power outages come nearly a month after the massive blackout that Venezuela experienced on March 7 that kept virtually the whole country in the dark for five days until the government managed to regain control of the situation and restore electric service.

The government said at the time that sabotage at the Guri hydroelectric complex was to blame for the blackout.

Maduro directly blamed the United States and the opposition for the alleged sabotage, claiming that “electromagnetic” attacks had been staged on the electric grid.

The opposition, however, blamed the Maduro regime for failures in the system, saying that the government’s poor management of the grid was the real cause of the outage.

The early March blackout caused about 15 deaths due to the lack of electricity at Venezuelan hospitals, the opposition claims, while officials contend that just two people died.