VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro announced plans yesterday to combat the “electricity war” being waged against the country, warning of sabotage by those seeking to overthrow the Bolivarian government.

Mr Maduro appeared on state television to outline measures to fight the attacks on the country’s electricity system, which have led to blackouts across the country.

He detailed a 30-day plan to ration electricity after the nationwide power cuts, which he described as a “terrorist attack against the electricity system” by Washington and the “putschist opposition.”

Communication Minister Jorge Rodriguez announced that workers would stop working at 2pm today, while schoolchildren will be given another day off as repairs to the system continue.

Denouncing the sabotage as a war against the Venezuelan people, he said: “We have been working on this serious situation. The coup went directly to the electric power generation system and affected its transmission capacity throughout the country.”

He added that the attack was stronger this time, with authorities assessing its capacity to cause damage.

Warning of opposition attempts to deliberately disrupt the system, the president said: “We are investigating infiltration elements within the electric supply that may be serving as moles to cause damage from the inside.

“We’re confronting monsters who want to destroy Venezuela,” he stressed.

Juan Guiado, the unelected president of the defunct National Assembly who declared himself interim leader of Venezuela in January, denied involvement, saying there had been no sabotage and the electricity cuts were due to corruption and incompetence.

The usurper has seen support for his Washington-backed coup attempt dwindle both inside Venezuela and outside the country. 

On Saturday, he was booed and chased out of a working-class district of Caracas, receiving police protection to ensure his safety.