Caracas Metro, Other Services Up and Running After Alleged Attack

After an alleged cyber attack left most of Venezuela without power, electricity and other services are slowly being restored in Caracas and the rest of the country.

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Venezuela’s transportation lines, including the Caracas Metro, are up and running Thursday following alleged attacks against the national electric power grid.

Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodriguez, confirmed that that the majority of the lines of the public and private sectors will be activated, as well as public and private sector activities. Only school activities remained suspended on Thursday.

“We have been monitoring the system to verify the conditions on the railways. So at this moment, we are at 90% progress to start our service,” president of Caracas Metro Cesar Vega had stated Wednesday, according to the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN). 

The Caracas Metro, which serves some three million people across the capital of Venezuela, was among those rendered incapacitated due to an alleged cyber attack on the Simon Bolivar hydroelectric power station on March 7. 

According to the head of the National Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello, President Nicolas Maduro gave the go ahead for the resumption of operations of the metros and railways in Caracas, Los Teques, Maracaibo and Valencia.

Surface transport units from Zona Rental, in Plaza Venezuela, to Propatria, Petare, Caricuao and La Rinconada initially served as replacements for the Metro Lines 1, 2 and 3.

“We have created a route system with the Metrobus units, totally free, so that they can transport people,” explained Vega.

Rodriguez also announced the resumption of military training exercises by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces this weekend, with emphasis on protecting water and electrical infrastructure.

The communication minister added that the redistribution of drinking water has reached 90% overall and 70% in Caracas, before adding that water trucks are on standby to meet the additional demand until service is completely restored. The water pumping system that supplies the Caracas metropolitan area was also taken offline by the power outage before being reactivated on Tuesday.

Electricity has likewise been gradually restored throughout Venezuela, with western states such as Zulia and Merida finally getting power on Tuesday after more than 96 hours of outage. 

Edited and with additional reporting by Venezuelanalysis.com