Sniper Rifle Took Out Venezuela's Hydroelectric Plant: Maduro

The recent attack on Venezuela’s Simon BolIvar Hydroelectric Plant was likely triggered by a sniper rifle, said Bolivarian President Nicolas Maduro during a televised notice on Wednesday.

RELATED: Recovery of Venezuelan Electric Service Underway

"We've never seen a terrorist attack like this, it was carried out with arms, in a vital area for the transmission of electricity," the president said.

"They shot [at the electrical system] with a long distance rifle, whoever ordered the attack knew what they were doing. This is a total war," he said, noting that shot sparked a fire which burned down a section of the electric system.

A quick recovery wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless efforts of Corpoelec, the Venezuelan state energy company, and from the security forces reconstructing the smoldering remnants of the attack, Maduro said.

This new aggression happens almost 20 days after a major cyberattack to the country’s electrical system resulted in a six-day nation-wide blackout, which according to the national government was executed by the United States.

"Donald Trump is obsessed with Venezuela, for our riches. He's found internal allies who are so diabolic that they can do so much damage to our country," the Bolivarian President said.

President @NicolasMaduro on the perpetrators of the attack on the electrical system: "These people are bandits, there are no other words."

The attack on Venezuela’s National Electric System, which left many sectors of the country without service, was denounced Monday by Vice President of Communication, Tourism and Culture Jorge Rodriguez. A third blackout occurred early Wednesday as a result of the system operational instability, damage which was initially prompted by the attack to the Guri transformers.

However, this time, as Venezuela’s officials stated, all the countermeasure mechanisms implemented by President Nicolas Maduro performed flawlessly. These worked for the insurance, maintenance, and communication between the different stations, which allowed that in record time almost all the service throughout the country to be restored.