Venezuela's US-backed acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday issued a fiery defense of her government’s response to last week’s devastating earthquakes, lashing out at critics who say authorities reacted too slowly. She pushed back on suggestions that the true death toll is far higher than the government has acknowledged and rejected accusations that the nation’s shoddily constructed social housing exacerbated the disaster.
Government Under Fire for Slow Response
The self-described socialist government of Rodríguez, striving for legitimacy months after the United States removed former President Nicolás Maduro from power in January, has come under fire for what residents have described as a sluggish and haphazard response to the quakes. Residents of the hardest-hit state, La Guaira, complain that the absence of a serious government search-and-rescue operation immediately after the temblors left them alone to scour for neighbors and loved ones with their bare hands. Rescuers have lamented that the country’s shortages of specialized equipment slowed efforts to find survivors. Experts have noted that substandard construction of social housing projects — a hallmark of the tenure of former President Hugo Chávez — left many neighborhoods vulnerable to quakes.
Rodríguez Refuses to Accept Criticism
At a press conference for foreign journalists in the capital of Caracas late Thursday, Rodríguez, wearing a black ribbon as a symbol of mourning, refused to accept the criticism. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately,” she said, lacing into journalists who she accused of spreading misinformation. “To politicize a humanitarian tragedy like this — when the Venezuelan government and its authorities have spared no effort, public, private, national, or international — is disgraceful.”
Death Toll and Missing Persons
Authorities have counted at least 2,295 people killed by the earthquake as of Wednesday — a number that’s expected to rise. They did not offer an updated death toll on Thursday, and have maintained tight control over public communications and relief efforts. More than 38,000 reports of missing people — many of them likely buried beneath the rubble — have been sent to a website set up by the Venezuelan opposition, as the government has not given official figures for those missing. When one journalist asked Rodríguez about the true, still-unknown toll of the disaster, citing reports that the United Nations is procuring 10,000 body bags, Rodríguez defended the government’s tally. “We do not want to speculate,” she said. “The numbers we provide are rigorously verified.”
A Rare Rescue Amidst Hopelessness
The stench of decomposition hung heavy over streets of flattened buildings as rescue missions to find survivors of Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes increasingly turned to the recovery of corpses. Desperate for good news, Venezuelan and international emergency workers celebrated the near-miraculous rescue of a 43-year-old security guard found alive after nearly eight days under the rubble — five days beyond the critical 72-hour mark following a quake when experts say finding survivors is most likely. National broadcasters reran footage of the exuberant moment he was pried free from the collapsed mall and lifted onto a stretcher as crowds, including rescuers from 10 countries, embraced one another and cheered. Trapped in an air pocket beneath the concrete, Hernán Alberto Gil Flores survived on the food and water that rescuers managed to pass him through crevices. Elsewhere across the hardest-hit state of La Guaira, where thousands remain missing, an air of hopelessness was setting in. The port city of Catia La Mar teemed with officials carrying body bags and stacking wooden coffins. Throughout the day, onlookers thronged international rescue teams as they scoured crumpled buildings in response to tips about possible survivors, retreating deflated when the crew’s seismic sensors detected no signs of life.
Rodríguez Denies Slow Government Response
Pressed on reports that residents were on their own in the first 48 hours after the quakes, with heavy machinery scarce and official aid nowhere to be found, Rodríguez acknowledged that “naturally, at the sites where the building collapsed, the first people to arrive were survivors of the collapse itself, relatives and neighbors.” But she railed against what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories” and claimed that a day after the quakes, “we had already mobilized the full capacity of the Venezuelan state together with the private sector.” The disaster has evolved into the biggest test of competence yet for Rodríguez, who served as deputy to Maduro until his ouster and became interim leader with the backing of the Trump administration. Her comments Thursday came a day before the extension of her 180-day mandate as acting leader was set to expire. With transparency scant across the Venezuelan government, it was unclear what would happen once the deadline passes Friday. Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — which was Rodríguez’s former role — for up to 90 days. These interim appointments can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days. The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.
US Support for Rodríguez Government
In contrast to the aftermath of Venezuela’s catastrophic 1999 landslides, when then-President Chávez rejected offers of assistance from an adversarial US, Rodríguez has publicly welcomed aid and rescue teams from countries across the political spectrum — even those like Israel and Ecuador that have no diplomatic relations with Venezuela. In expressing thanks for the foreign help, Rodríguez singled out Israel as well as US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying they “remained constantly attentive and offered support.” The US has committed over $300 million and deployed some 900 military personnel to support rescue and relief efforts so far. The US has thrown its support behind Rodríguez and largely turned its back on opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, who this week accused Rodríguez’s government of blocking her return to the country. Washington has also sought to remake Venezuela’s lucrative energy industry and opened the door for Venezuela’s state oil company to sell fuel to US companies. John M. Barrett, the US chargé d’affaires to Venezuela, said that revenue from Venezuelan oil production, controlled by the US Treasury since Maduro’s seizure, is also being made available for relief efforts. The State and Treasury Department teams were working “to make sure that those funds are made available for this specific reconstruction effort, including for shelter, sanitation, health and energy generation,” Barrett said. Venezuela’s oil and gas production was not directly impacted by the earthquakes and production continues to increase, he added.
