Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodrigues said at a presser on Wednesday that power was 100 percent restored, adding: "President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuela's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy...has decided to resume work activities throughout the country" on Thursday.
"School activities remain suspended for another 24 hours."
Water, however, remains a problem.
The blackout worsened the quality of drinkable water in the country, with many residents reporting what appeared to be oil-contaminated black water coming out of their taps.
The power outage hampered the ability of utilities to pump water to homes.
Venezuelan news hound Heberlizeth González tweeted Wednesday: "The water shortage situation...is terrible. There are areas that have been without water for more than two months. This morning water started coming out like this ‐ not at all suitable for consumption."
She posted a video of black water running from a tap.
Jose Perez told Sky News that people are so desperate for water, they are taking their chances, regardless of whether it might be contaminated.
"You don't know where this water is coming from, if it's treated or not treated, you take water home without knowing the consequences of it in the future," he said.
"The sad thing about everything we are living through in Venezuela is the sadness of everything happening in our nation, the sadness of what is happening with all of the youth at this time - it's not a life."
| An Nahar adds: |
Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in an address on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Wednesday that Maduro decided the public sector would resume work on Thursday, although state schools would remain closed for an extra day.
The span of decreed public holidays started last Friday, a day after power went out in 22 of Venezuela's 23 states, disrupting transport, causing stockpiled food to rot in fridges and forcing some Caracas residents to source water from sewage outflows as taps ran dry.
By Wednesday, electricity was back in Caracas and other regions. But swaths of western Venezuela remained without power, including the city of Maracaibo where more than 500 shops reported having been looted, according to a retailers' association.
The blackout -- the worst in the history of the once-rich oil-producing nation -- deepened an already grave economic crisis.
According to Ecoanalitica, an economic analysis firm, the vast power cut cost Venezuela $875 million.
"There is major paralysis in many critical areas in the oil sector," it said, estimating that up to 70 percent of the one million barrels of oil a day Venezuela still managed to produce could end up being affected.
"No water, no power, no medicine, no cash, no transport. This has been dreadful," one Caracas resident, Victoria Milano, 40, told AFP.
The worsening situation has bolstered Juan Guaido, an opposition leader whose claim to be Venezuela's interim president is backed by the US and 50 other countries.
"This desperation and darkness is caused by the dictatorship," he told supporters on Tuesday, alleging that 20 people had died in hospitals because of a lack of power.
He added that he expected to take over the presidential palace "very soon."
Venezuela's pro-Maduro prosecutor's office has hit back with a criminal investigation against Guaido for "sabotage," alleging he had a hand in the blackout. But the opposition leader remains free after the US warned of "consequences" if he were placed in durance vile
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
.