Maduro Vows ‘Powerful Changes’ in Govt, New Authority to Protect Infrastructure

“Soon, I will announce new powerful changes in ways of the national government’s work,” Maduro said in a speech at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday, as aired by his Periscope channel.

The president has not specified, however, what changes will be made but he called on the government ministers to go to the streets and “rule together with the people”.

Maduro also announced the creation of a new structure as part of the Armed Forces tasked with protecting key infrastructure in the wake of the recent large blackout in the county.

“I would like to inform you about the creation and launch of the new structure to protect the strategically important key infrastructure of Venezuela”, Maduro said in a speech at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday, as aired by his Periscope channel.

Maduro added that the new structure would include four departments.

The president noted that the “cyberattack against the Venezuelan electric energy system was a terror act by the US government against the Venezuelan people”.

“Venezuelans have defeated this terror attack and we are now preparing to move forward”, Maduro argued. On 7 March, nearly the whole territory of Venezuela was swept by a blackout, caused by what the national electricity supplier Corpoelec called sabotage at a the Guri dam. The outage lasted for almost a week.

The Venezuelan authorities have accused the United States of waging a cyberattack against the hydroelectric power plant, the claim denied by Washington.

The situation in Venezuela has worsened since the country’s opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president on 23 January. The United States and 54 other countries have recognized Guaido Venezuela’s interim president.

Maduro has dubbed Guaido a puppet of the United States and said Washington has attempted a coup d’etat to exact a change in government. Russia, China, Turkey, Bolivia and other countries have voiced support for the government of consituttionally elected President Nicolas Maduro as the only legitimate authority in Venezuela.