Page 7 - UTILITIES

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 16 November 2017

Blackout hits Puerto Rico as power company reached goal

230 kilovolt line that con- advisor for Denver-based
nects the island’s northern consulting company Anal-
and southern regions had ysis Group who testified last
failed for the second time month before a U.S. Sen-
in a week. The blackout af- ate committee on efforts to
fected the capital of San restore power, said black-
Juan and nearby cities and outs are likely to occur if a
towns along the U.S. terri- power company is having
tory’s north coast, provok- problems matching supply
ing a groan from people and demand.
who were celebrating the “Something has to give,”
return of electricity in re- she said in a phone inter-
cent weeks by restocking view, adding that she is sur-
refrigerators and charging prised at how slowly power
phones and computers. is being restored across the
A previous blackout involv- U.S. territory. “It’s extraor-
ing the same line occurred dinary to have an outage
on Nov. 8. On social media, that has extended this
some Puerto Ricans won- deeply and for so long af-
dered whether the black- ter an event.”
out was caused by the More than 130,000 people
government’s rush to meet have fled the island since
its goals to restore power. the hurricane, with many
In this Oct. 19, 2017 photo, a brigade from the Electric Power Authority repairs distribution lines Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo seeking jobs and shelter on
damaged by Hurricane Maria in the Cantera community of San Juan, Puerto Rico. A major Rossello has pledged 95 the U.S. mainland.
blackout hit Puerto Rico’s most populated region on Wednesday. percent power generation Prior to Wednesday’s black-
(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) by Dec. 15, while the U.S. out, the power company
By DANICA COTO ed region on Wednesday after Hurricane Maria struck Army Corps of Engineers said 21 municipalities still
Associated Press just as the government an- as a Category 4 storm. has said it expects 75 per- had no power at all, and
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) nounced it had met its goal The Electric Power Author- cent power generation by portions of Puerto Rico’s
— A major blackout hit of 50 percent power gen- ity said it dispatched crews the end of January. 57 other municipalities had
Puerto Rico’s most populat- eration nearly two months to investigate why a key Susan Tierney, a senior seen electricity restored.q

Mexico arrests Zetas leader accused of migrant killings

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- He faces charges of orga- they refused to work for the
can police and military nized crime and kidnap- cartel. The next year, 193
personnel on Tuesday ar- ping, including the abduc- bodies were found buried
rested an “old school” tion of a U.S. citizen. in San Fernando, most of
Zetas cartel leader who Authorities said Jaramillo them migrants who had
allegedly coordinated a was linked to the May 10 been kidnapped off buses
2010 killing spree that in- killing of activist Miriam Ro- and killed by the Zetas.q
cluded the massacre of 72 driguez, who spent years
Central American migrants searching for her missing
in the border state of Tam- daughter and discovered
aulipas, authorities said. her body.
The 56-year-old suspect In 2010, gunmen for the
was identified as Martinia- In this file photo, police wearing face-masks guard a truck that Zetas drug cartel killed 72
no Jaramillo. Prosecutors arrived carrying the bodies of some of the 72 migrants who were migrants in the Tamauli-
said he was arrested at a killed in northern Mexico while trying to reach the US border, at pas town of San Fernan-
hospital near the Tamauli- a funeral home in Mexico City. do. Investigators said the
pas state capital. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) migrants were slain after