Venezuela experiences chaos a month after earthquakes

The organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported this Friday that around 6,000 people remain camped on the streets in La Guaira, the region most affected by the earthquakes, and in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, without adequate shelter or basic services.

According to the regime of interim dictator Delcy Rodríguez, more than 23 thousand people are housed in 107 temporary camps, set up to receive families affected by the earthquakes.

The tragedy’s numbers remain unknown, fueled by Chavismo’s lack of historical transparency. Venezuelan authorities confirmed the deaths of almost 5,400 people, but tens of thousands of others remain missing.

According to the independent platform Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela, 29,475 people have not yet been located.

A report from CNN in Spanish pointed out that international rescuers helping with search and rescue operations are beginning to leave Venezuela.

The Mexican group Los Topos de Tlatelolco, specialized in rescue operations, announced its withdrawal three weeks ago, as it considered the so-called “biological window” to find survivors closed and sought to facilitate the entry of heavy machinery to search for bodies in the rubble.

This week, Spain ended the mission of its field hospital, which had been set up at the beginning of July in Parque Francisco de Miranda, in Caracas.

In a text published in X this Friday, opposition leader Edmundo González, who won the 2024 presidential election but did not take office because fraud occurred so that the then dictator Nicolás Maduro would remain in power, criticized the Rodríguez regime’s response to the earthquakes.

“The progressive dismantling of institutions, the loss of public sector capacity, the lack of transparency, corruption and indifference to the suffering of citizens are not consequences of the earthquake. They already existed. The tragedy simply made it impossible to hide them. The world saw the result of almost three decades of political decisions”, he stated, citing the period in which Chavismo, which came to power in 1999, governs Venezuela.

“It is clear that no one can stop the earth from shaking. However, those in power have a responsibility to respond when the population needs greater protection — and, even more so, when the country faces one of the greatest natural catastrophes in its history,” wrote González.