Water shortage a huge problem as power returns in Venezuela

Power is mostly back to normal in Caracas, but the prolonged outage has disrupted supplies of drinking water and forced residents to wait for water trucks or scoop up effluent from sewerage pipes.

People carry containers to fill with water during rolling blackouts. Source: AP

Power has slowly been returning to Caracas, albeit with the frequent power dips that characterised the pre-blackout situation. 

Maduro's government asserted Wednesday that electricity had been fully restored across the whole country, but some western regions still experienced a lack of power.

The power cut disrupted lights, transport and water distribution and prompted authorities to declare holidays for public workers and state schools from last Friday.

Men fill containers with water at Avila National Park during rolling blackouts Source: AAP

The prolonged outage notably disrupted supplies of drinking water, forcing residents to wait for water trucks or scoop up effluent from sewerage pipes.

Maduro blamed the blackout on US "sabotage." But experts said steadily degraded infrastructure and a brain drain of qualified engineers was more likely.

Hundreds of arrests

More than 300 people were arrested for protesting and looting during an unprecedented weeklong blackout across Venezuela, an NGO for detainees critical of President Nicolas Maduro's government said on Thursday.

Between the start of the blackout on March 7 and Thursday, "we are talking of 124 arrested for protesting" and "more than 200 other arrests for looting," the Foro Penal NGO's director, Alfredo Romero, told a news conference.

He said "anarchy" reigned in Venezuela's second city of Maracaibo during the power outage, with "generalised looting."

A retailers' association said some 500 stores in that city were pillaged during the power cut.

The hallway of a mall is trashed after stores stand empty one day after it was looted in Maracaibo Source: AP

The Consecomercio association called on beleaguered security forces to reimpose order in Maracaibo and its surrounds.

In a statement, it said it lamented the "impunity with which mobs, taking advantage of the electricity crisis... destroyed installations" in Maracaibo's main shopping center and in "500 other establishments."

Visas revoked

The United States has revoked the visas of 340 additional people close to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and is considering adding more to the list, the State Department said Thursday.

The latest revocations -- which include visas for 107 former diplomats and their families -- brings the total to more than 600 since late 2018, spokesman Robert Palladino said.