As twin powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela, killing at least 188 people and leaving more than 200 trapped, working-class communities were left to undertake their own rescue efforts. Dayana Delgado, a mother of three children, questioned the absence of promised heavy machinery, observing that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble in search of loved ones, including her 8-year-old missing son. The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes, among the strongest in Venezuela in over a century, injured some 1,500 people and left thousands reported missing, with buildings evacuated as far as Brazil’s Amazon.
Working Class Bears the Cost
The human cost of the disaster fell immediately on the dispossessed. In La Guaira, a coastal region north of Caracas that suffered some of the heaviest damage, Cristian Carreño stared at his precariously tilting, charred apartment building, stating, “I lost everything. There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.” In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks and other open spaces, fearing building collapses. María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor, recounted, “We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us. My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.” The bodies of a 3- and 10-year-old child were wrapped in blankets and carried away, leaving their mother collapsed in grief. Injured individuals, including children and animals, were pulled from the rubble, covered in dust and blood.
The country’s main airport in La Guaira was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts. Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, subway services were suspended, and natural gas was shut off. Classes were canceled for several days, with some school buildings designated as shelters and donation centers. Families posted missing-person flyers with photos, while others shared handwritten lists in their desperate search for loved ones. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives, highlighting the widespread disruption to communication.
State's Limited Capacity and Control
Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez declared a state of emergency and announced the creation of a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes. However, the state’s capacity to respond was immediately questioned by those on the ground. Rodriguez appealed directly to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, underscoring the government's reliance on private capital during a crisis. Despite dramatic images of rescues shown on Venezuelan state TV, few government search teams were observed outside Caracas, leaving communities largely to their own devices.
Further exposing the state's priorities, United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions to allow people access to potentially life-saving information. The site X had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024, in its second year, in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election, also in its second year. Access to the platform was only restored after the UN's public call, revealing the state's willingness to prioritize political control over public safety and information access, even during a catastrophic event.
Imperial Powers Offer Conditional 'Aid'
Offers of aid poured in from various nations and multilateral financial institutions. The U.S. Treasury, an instrument of imperial economic policy, moved to waive some sanctions until October 23, in the same day as the quakes, specifically to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts that would otherwise be prohibited. This temporary easing of economic warfare measures, which have historically impacted Venezuela's capacity to develop its infrastructure and social services, came only in the immediate aftermath of widespread devastation.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodriguez, stated the United States was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and other assistance. Rubio promised a “whole-of-government response” that would be “big, fast, and effective,” despite acknowledging the logistical challenges posed by the closure of Venezuela’s main airport. This conditional and temporary lifting of sanctions, coupled with promises of aid from an imperial power, highlights the ongoing leverage exerted by foreign capital and states over Venezuela's sovereignty and its ability to respond to internal crises. The coastal region of La Guaira, which bore significant damage, is no stranger to natural disasters, having experienced a mudslide in 1999, now in its 27th year, that killed thousands, pointing to long-standing vulnerabilities exacerbated by economic conditions and potentially inadequate infrastructure investment.