Venezuela’s second massive power outage of the year plunged much of the nation into darkness on Monday night, prompting renewed talk of sabotage from President Nicolas Maduro’s government and cries of incompetence from its foes.

Power went off in Caracas and other cities around the country soon after 8pm local time (0030 GMT), to the intense annoyance of residents and commuters.

“I feel so frustrated, angry and impotent,” said sales adviser Aneudys Acosta, 29, trudging through the rain along a street in the capital after having to leave the disrupted underground transport system.

“I live far away and here I am stuck in the rain. Something’s going wrong that they’re not sorting out. The government needs a Plan B. This is just not normal.”

Monday’s outage appeared similar to a massive September 5 blackout that was one of the worst in the South American Opec member’s history.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who narrowly won a presidential election this year after the death of his mentor and former leader Hugo Chavez, accused the opposition then of deliberately sabotaging the power grid to discredit him.

His powerful ally and National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, repeated the same accusation after Monday’s blackout that affected more than half of Venezuela.

“I have no doubt that this electricity sabotage is part of the right-wing’s plan,” Cabello said on Twitter.

In some wealthier parts of Caracas, where opposition to the socialist government is strongest, people began banging pots and pans out of their windows in a traditional form of protest. Some shouted, “Maduro, resign!”

Venezuela has been suffering periodic electricity cuts around the country since 2009, although the capital has been spared the worst outages.

Critics say the power problems symbolise the failure of the government and its 15 years of socialist policies in resource-rich Venezuela.

The country has the world’s largest crude oil reserves and big rivers that feed hydroelectric facilities generating two-thirds of its power. The blackouts, some due to planned power rationing and at other times to utility failures, have not affected the oil refineries, which are powered by separate generator plants.

State oil company PDVSA said its installations were all working normally on Monday night, with fuel supplies guaranteed. Electricity Minister Jesse Chacon said the same major transmission line that went down in September - and carries about 60% of national supply - had again been affected.

Power began returning to most parts of Caracas within an hour or two, though remote parts of the nation of 29mn people were still in the dark late into the evening.

Related Story