A failure in an energy transmission line on Wednesday produced an unexpected blackout throughout Ecuador, the government said, days after announcing that there would be power outages in the country due to production problems.Ecuador's Minister of Energy Roberto Luque said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the failure was reported by the country's National Electricity Operator and caused 'a cascade disconnection,' leaving the nation without energy service.
Emilia Cevallos, a waitress in a restaurant north of the capital, Quito, said the blackout was surprising.'We thought it was only in this sector, but when we left we realized that while some stores had connected generators, the majority did not have electricity,' she said. 'The traffic lights were not working either.'The Quito municipality said on X that traffic agents were mobilized to coordinate the flow of traffic.