# Massive power outage in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 16, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621 "2019-06-16T22:18:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621/1 "2019-06-16T22:18:43Z")

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Electricity is slowly being restored, and I’m surprised this isn’t a bigger story. Argentina and Uruguay had 100% outage, and Paraguay and possibly parts of other South American nations lost most of their power, from what I heard. (The stories are inconsistent, which is understandable.)

> **[Argentina, Uruguay Blacked Out by Massive Power Failure](https://www.wsj.com/articles/argentina-uruguay-blacked-out-by-massive-power-failure-11560696223)**
>
> A regionwide electrical failure cut power to all of Argentina and its small neighbor Uruguay, halting subway trains, reducing water service and leaving traffic signals dark.

If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621/2 "2019-06-17T00:21:52Z")

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And on Saturday, the [NYT reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html?fallback=0&recId=1MkZM01uutUgSkbcJiDv7tx2bvN&locked=0&geoContinent=OC&geoRegion=VIC&recAlloc=top_conversion&geoCountry=AU&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=337943836&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article&region=Footer) that the USA has, had, or attempted to have, the ability to destabilize the Russian grid. Presumably unrelated, but not a good look, and a reminder of the political consequences of such actions.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621/3 "2019-06-17T00:33:27Z")

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I’m hoping this was some kind of accident or “technical difficulties”, but I strongly suspect it wasn’t.

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**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massive-power-outage-in-uruguay-paraguay-and-argentina/835621/4 "2019-06-17T21:20:42Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> I’m hoping this was some kind of accident or “technical difficulties”, but I strongly suspect it wasn’t.

You would be surprised, when North America got hit with that Blackout back in the early 2000’s, it was a cascading failure along the network. I would comfortably put money on a network failure with legacy equipment.