The Sectoral Vice President for Economy and Minister of Petroleum, Tareck El Aissami, denounced this Saturday an attempted sabotage against the electrical system of the El Palito Refinery, located in the municipality of Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, an action planned from Colombia with the consent and complicity of the government of Iván Duque.
In the company of the manager of this oil refining complex, Ramón Curapiaca, and directors of operations, maintenance, and integral security of PDVSA, El Aissami revealed that the alleged terrorist plan intended to blow up the aforementioned refinery, after the deliberate manipulation of the electrical protection
He explained that as part of this neutralized sabotage, the protection systems of the El Palito electrical network were manipulated, so that in the event of a deliberate «blackout», they would not be activated to cause an explosion with incalculable consequences in the main plant, which spread to the rest of the refinery, causing not only the affectation of the electrical service, but also putting the lives of the oil workers at risk.
El Aissami announced that in the face of this vandalism, security has been ordered to be doubled at the El Palito Refinery, while expert work continues throughout the electrical system and other operational systems, in order to «guarantee operational stability to continue producing fuel for our people.»
“We want to inform Venezuela and the peoples of the world that we have neutralized an alleged act of sabotage, which sought to cause catastrophic damage to this PDVSA facility. President Nicolás Maduro had already advanced on this denounce that today we want to present to Venezuela and to the entire world” -he assured.
Maximum alert:
Given this scenario, El Aissami called for «maximum alert» to the entire working class, in all productive areas of the oil industry, to firmly confront the violent pretensions of the outgoing government of Colombia:
“The response to this sabotage will always be, in the first place, the union of the working class, the profound and patriotic conscience of all; and above all, the maximum mobilization of our workers around the facilities, to be able to early detect any act or any person outside the facilities, to proceed to report it”, he emphasized.
The Minister for Oil asserted that, together with the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), the police forces, the people and the oil working class, the National Government will advance with dignity and firmness in the face of these alleged sabotage actions against our refineries.
