Venezuela’s ruling regime has reported 1,943 deaths and over 10,500 injuries after twin earthquakes struck on June 24, while thousands remain missing and rescue efforts falter, leaving nationals to fend for themselves. The chances of finding survivors diminish with each passing hour. Angelica Mundrain, whose son, niece, and nephew are trapped, stated, “We’ve been abandoned. We feel helpless. What we have seen is a lack of organization, a lack of empathy, a lack of everything.” She has spent six days waiting for heavy machinery to clear the rubble of her flattened beachfront apartment in La Guaira.
Regime Indifference
The earthquakes have starkly exposed the 27-year ruling party's inability to carry out basic governmental functions, now under acting President Delcy Rodriguez. In the critical 72 hours following the collapse of residential buildings, pharmacies, and hotels across La Guaira state and Caracas, the regime's response focused primarily on directing traffic. Police officers, intelligence agents, and armed forces members were seen manning intersections, not digging.
Civilians, often working alone or with foreign rescuers, searched for loved ones amidst the debris. Ambulances were trapped in miles-long traffic jams, while hospitals remained undersupplied and understaffed. Emergency personnel responded with little to no equipment. A week later, many residents in La Guaira's coastal communities reported that most rescues and recoveries were being performed by fellow Venezuelans and foreign teams, equipped with thermal cameras, sound detectors, and trained dogs. Meanwhile, men and women in Venezuelan uniforms stood by watching, and state workers took selfies.
Tulane University professor David Smilde, a three-decade observer of Venezuela, noted that the disaster demonstrated the state's profound incapacity, echoing the earlier this year capture of then-President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces on Jan. 3. Smilde asserted the state “can’t do anything like get started with digging people out,” a worrying concern for Rodriguez, sworn in after Maduro's deposition. This sovereign failure, Smilde explained, is linked to a mass exodus from the public sector due to extremely low pay and pervasive corruption. Many on the government payroll haven't worked in months or years, leaving a hollowed-out state without specific duties or emergency protocols. “It’s like trying to have a baseball team with three people on the field,” he said, highlighting the systemic breakdown.
Elite Privilege Exposed
Wealth and government connections directly shaped the regime's response, ensuring preferential treatment for certain sites. At one collapsed building, the presence of police and military school students suggested that officials or politically connected individuals resided there. Police officers from a neighboring state searched for a captain, while national guard members sought a major general. A telescopic crane was parked for hours, rented by relatives of the well-off families who lived there. Angelica Mundrain, struggling to recover her family, could not afford such a luxury.
The People's Fury
The regime's abysmal response ignited widespread anger, leading to direct altercations between residents and machine operators. In one instance, when a government-provided excavator attempted to leave a flattened public housing building, people blocked traffic to prevent its departure and forcibly pulled the operator from the cab. Electrician Daniel Castillo, who pulled his mother and son alive from their collapsed public housing apartment, recounted how his brother's body remained trapped for another day. Waiting for a free bag of hygiene products from an armed forces tent, Castillo observed, “You see the guards, and their uniforms are spotless, not dirty at all,” contrasting the pristine appearance of Venezuela’s National Guard with the dust-covered civilians and foreign rescuers who had toiled for days. “The government did nothing,” he concluded.