Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Michael (Mike) Richard PompeoOvernight Defense: Pentagon redirects pandemic funding to defense contractors | US planning for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May | Anti-Trump GOP group puts ads in military papers Overnight Defense: House Democrats unveil stopgap spending measure to GOP opposition | Bill includes .6B for new subs | Trump issues Iran sanctions after world shrugs at US action at UN Navalny calls on Russia to return clothes he was wearing when he fell ill MORE blamed the "incompetence" of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for a major blackout that left the capital and parts of multiple states without power on Thursday.

Pompeo's criticism came on Twitter Thursday evening after Maduro and Electricity Minister Luis Motta Dominguez blamed the outage on sabotage and "American imperialism," according to CNN.

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"The electric war announced and directed by US imperialism against our people will be defeated. Nothing and no one will be able to defeat the people of Bolívar and Chávez. Maximum unity of the patriots!" Maduro tweeted, according to a translation.

Pompeo said the Maduro government was responsible for the outage.

"The power outage and the devastation hurting ordinary Venezuelans is not because of the USA," Pompeo tweeted. "It’s not because of Colombia. It’s not Ecuador or Brazil, Europe or anywhere else. Power shortages and starvation are the result of the Maduro regime’s incompetence."

"Maduro's policies bring nothing but darkness," he added in subsequent tweets. "No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro."

No food. No medicine. Now, no power. Next, no Maduro. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) March 8, 2019

Authorities with Maduro's government said the outage stemmed from an attack at a hydroelectric power plant that provides the country with about 70 percent of its electricity, according to CNN.

"This is an attack [on] the government, this is an attack [on] the people and there are communities that in less than 15 minutes had already gone out to protest and close streets," Dominguez told CNN on Thursday.

Maduro's government is attempting to stave off an interim government declared by the president of the country's National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, who is backed by the U.S. and several European nations.

President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE has expressed support for Guaidó in recent weeks, but has stopped short of committing U.S. forces to bring about a change in leadership.