Chavez suspends rolling blackouts in Caracas
Hugo Chavez
President Hugo Chavez suspended rolling blackouts in Venezuela's capital a day after they began and sacked his electricity minister  saying government officials imposed a rationing plan riddled with mistakes.
Caracas
 Chavez's announcement late Wednesday was a significant shift in his attempts to avoid a widespread power collapse in the coming months through rolling blackouts of up to four hours a day throughout the country. Other rationing measures are to remain in place  including outages in other areas.
 "I have ordered the electrical outages to be suspended  only in Caracas " Chavez said on state television. "Because this government has to be capable of recognizing mistakes made and fixing them in time."
 The rolling blackouts have been unpopular in a city already plagued by violent crime  traffic and trash-strewn streets  and opposition leaders accused Chavez on Thursday of backtracking to try to head off damage to his political support.
 But the president cited tactical errors instead  saying power was cut in the wrong sectors of the city in some cases.
 "I think in one area they repeated the outage a few hours later " he said. He added that some stoplights also went dark.
 "Enough. I said if that's what is going on  there was an error there " Chavez said.
 Chavez said he asked Electricity Minister Angel Rodriguez to resign and that "he has taken it like a soldier."
 Chavez said he ordered the blackouts "interrupted indefinitely" in Caracas and told the city's state electric utility not to schedule any more until the process is reviewed. It was unclear when or if the government may attempt to restart the measures.
 Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma  a Chavez opponent  said the government was forced to call off rationing in the metropolitan area of about 6 million people because it was highly unpopular. He urged Venezuelans to join a protest later this month against faulty public services  water and electricity rationing and a currency devaluation expected to drive up already-soaring inflation.
 Chavez announced he was calling off the blackouts in Caracas just hours after he urged Venezuelans to accept the cutbacks and likened them to a national energy diet. He called a late-night talk show to announce the change shortly before some parts of Caracas were to begin four-hour outages at midnight.
 Chavez has fended off criticism that his government has failed to complete enough power upgrades to keep up with increasing demand  saying the drought is the primary culprit and that his government is acting to extend the Guri Dam's capacity to feed the electrical grid. Rains are expected to return at the end of the traditional dry season in May.
[TGT] suspended rolling blackouts in Venezuela's capital a day after they began and sacked [TGT] electricity minister  saying government officials imposed a rationing plan riddled with mistakes.
Caracas
 [TGT]'s announcement late Wednesday was a significant shift in [TGT] attempts to avoid a widespread power collapse in the coming months through rolling blackouts of up to four hours a day throughout the country. Other rationing measures are to remain in place  including outages in other areas.
 "I have ordered the electrical outages to be suspended  only in Caracas [TGT] said on state television. "Because this government has to be capable of recognizing mistakes made and fixing them in time."
 The rolling blackouts have been unpopular in a city already plagued by violent crime  traffic and trash-strewn streets  and opposition leaders accused [TGT] on Thursday of backtracking to try to head off damage to [TGT] political support.
 But [TGT] cited tactical errors instead  saying power was cut in the wrong sectors of the city in some cases.
 "I think in one area they repeated the outage a few hours later " [TGT] said. [TGT] added that some stoplights also went dark.
 "Enough. I said if that's what is going on  there was an error there " [TGT] said.
 [TGT] said [TGT] asked Electricity Minister Angel Rodriguez to resign and that "[TGT] has taken it like a soldier."
 [TGT] said [TGT] ordered the blackouts "interrupted indefinitely" in Caracas and told the city's state electric utility not to schedule any more until the process is reviewed. It was unclear when or if the government may attempt to restart the measures.
 Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma  a [TGT] opponent  said the government was forced to call off rationing in the metropolitan area of about 6 million people because it was highly unpopular. He urged Venezuelans to join a protest later this month against faulty public services  water and electricity rationing and a currency devaluation expected to drive up already-soaring inflation.
 [TGT] announced [TGT] was calling off the blackouts in Caracas just hours after [TGT] urged Venezuelans to accept the cutbacks and likened them to a national energy diet. [TGT] called a late-night talk show to announce the change shortly before some parts of Caracas were to begin four-hour outages at midnight.
 [TGT] has fended off criticism that [TGT] government has failed to complete enough power upgrades to keep up with increasing demand  saying the drought is the primary culprit and that [TGT] government is acting to extend the Guri Dam's capacity to feed the electrical grid. Rains are expected to return at the end of the traditional dry season in May.