The NetBlocks internet observatory has identified a new widespread power outage across Venezuela starting shortly after 5:00 PM UTC (1:00 PM VET) Monday 25 March 2019, cover most states and covering capital Caracas, sending 57% of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure offline.

Venezuela has been recovering from a series of outages of unprecedented magnitude since 7 March knocked out Venezuela’s internet connectivity utilities offline. The new disruption is on a similar scale to the first two disruptions earlier in the month.

NetBlocks diffscans, which map the entire IP address space of a country in real time, show internet outages corresponding to power cuts in the region.

Internet outages caused by electricity grid disruptions have a distinct network pattern used by NetBlocks to determine and attribute the root cause of an outage, a process known as attribution which follows detection and classification stages.

Update: A Second nationwide power outage detected in Venezuela. Real-time network data shows 88% of the country now offline at levels approaching the severity of the incident on 7 March when just 2% remained online:

Update: Impact has been assessed across 18 states of Venezuela following the new national power outage, with severe-rated states below identified as having under 10% connectivity as compared to the period prior to the disruption:

┌─state──────────────────────┬─incident_impact─┬─incident_auto_classification─┐ │ Mérida, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Táchira, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Estado Trujillo, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Barinas, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Miranda, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Dependencias Federales, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Apure, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Zulia, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Aragua, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Lara, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Portuguesa, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Distrito Federal, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Guárico, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Yaracuy, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Cojedes, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Amazonas, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Falcón, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Carabobo, VE │ SEVERE │ power outage │ │ Vargas, VE │ HIGH │ power outage │ │ Nueva Esparta, VE │ HIGH │ power outage │ │ Sucre, VE │ MEDIUM │ power outage │ │ Anzoátegui, VE │ MEDIUM │ power outage │ └────────────────────────────┴─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘

Update: Venezuela has now been largely disconnected for 24 hours following the second national power blackout. Current network data shows 85% of the country offline with little evidence of recovery as of 5:00 PM UTC 26 March 2019:

Update: #Venezuela has now been largely disconnected for 24 hours following a second national power blackout; current network data shows 85% of the country offline with little evidence of recovery #SinLuz #Apagon #26Mar ⬇️https://t.co/7nhWVW9v7a pic.twitter.com/UoY0qGheBr — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) March 26, 2019

Update: 9:40 AM UTC, 27 March 2019: A new disruption has been identified in Venezuela 40 hours after onset of a major national power outage. 91% of the country is now offline reversing an earlier partial recovery:

Update: 12:10 AM UTC, 28 March 2019: It has been 55 hours since the onset of nationwide power outages in Venezuela; 69% of the country remains offline after a new drop in connectivity:

Update: It has been 55 hours since the onset of nationwide power outages in #Venezuela; 69% of the country remains offline after a new drop in connectivity #SinLuz #Apagon #27Mar ⬇️https://t.co/7nhWVW9v7a pic.twitter.com/7trvLoLqjd — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) March 28, 2019

Methodology

NetBlocks diffscans, which map the IP address space of a country in real time, show internet connectivity levels and corresponding outages. Purposeful internet outages generally have a distinct network pattern used by NetBlocks to determine and attribute the root cause of an outage, a process known as attribution which follows detection and classification stages.

NetBlocks is a civil society group working at the intersection of digital rights, cyber-security and internet governance. Independent and non-partisan, NetBlocks strives for an open and inclusive digital future for all.