politics
March 22, 2026
Delcy Rodríguez appeals to citizen awareness to advance electricity saving plan
Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, appealed this Saturday to citizen awareness to advance an electricity saving plan, after a massive service failure was recorded on Friday in regions of the west of the country. "Today is an important day, because today is what is called the perpendicular passage of the sun's rays from south to north, which in concrete terms means that for 45 days, starting today, the sun's rays will fall directly on Venezuela," said the president in a meeting with part of her Cabinet, broadcast on the state channel VTV.
TL;DR
- Acting President Delcy Rodríguez called for a citizen awareness plan to save electricity.
- The call follows a massive power outage in western Venezuela on Friday.
- The plan is prompted by the sun's perpendicular passage over Venezuela for 45 days, increasing heat and drought.
- Citizens are asked to conserve energy, particularly by adjusting air conditioning and disconnecting appliances.
- The government will deploy thermal drones to assess high-temperature areas.
- Rodríguez stated that electricity generation recovery is insufficient for demand and economic growth.
- She reiterated calls for the U.S. to lift economic sanctions, blaming them for the crisis.
- Opposition figures Juan Pablo Guanipa and Nora Bracho reported the power failure and demanded service stabilization.
- The Ministry of Electric Energy has not yet released a report on the outage.
- The government often blames the opposition for power failures, despite military oversight of facilities.
- A new Minister of Electric Energy, Rolando Alcalá, was appointed recently.
- Parliament is debating reforms to attract foreign and private capital to the oil and mining sectors, requiring a strengthened electrical industry.
- Venezuela has experienced years of massive power outages, including a severe national blackout in March 2019.