Friday’s blackout caused by Mexican failure

On Friday night much of Belize was unable to watch this newscast–or anything else requiring electricity–due to a massive blackout…and now Belize Electricity Limited is explaining why it happened. According to a B.E.L. release the problem can once again be traced to Mexico. Around four-thirty a substation at Xul-Ha near Bacalar shut down due to a mechanical malfunction and all power was cut off to Belize. At the time Belize was relying on Mexico for sixty-six percent of its energy requirements. Normally, according to B.E.L., it would take about a half-hour to fire up the diesels and squeeze more power from Mollejon to compensate for the loss, but a breaker the substation near mile eight on the Western Highway also malfunctioned. It was not until eight-thirty that Xul-Ha came back on line and the electric company got its act together shortly thereafter. Various feeders in the Belize, Cayo, Orange Walk and Corozal Districts were affected by the blackout.