Earthquake in Venezuela: Venezuela’s interim president defends the government’s earthquake aid

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez has continued to defend her government’s response to last week’s severe earthquakes. She spoke out against the accusation that the authorities had acted too slowly. »We didn’t wait one, two or three days. We acted immediately,” said Rodríguez in Caracas.

She also contradicted speculation that there was a significantly higher number of victims and denied that inadequate state-run social housing had exacerbated the extent of the disaster. Instead, she blames the media for spreading misinformation and accusing them of politicizing the disaster. “To exploit a humanitarian tragedy like this politically is shameful.”

The number of missing people remains unclear

On Wednesday last week, two strong earthquakes shook northern Venezuela in quick succession. The number of deaths has now risen to more than 2,500. Rodríguez said at the press conference that 2,595 people have died so far. In addition, 12,400 people were injured. At the same time, she assured that rescue workers would continue to search for survivors.

However, she did not provide any information about the number of people still missing. The country’s authorities have so far avoided commenting. According to United Nations estimates, the number of missing people could be up to 50,000. The interim president also did not comment specifically on reports that the UN had procured 10,000 body bags and only replied that the government did not want to speculate. “The figures we publish have been carefully checked,” she confirms.

Rodríguez’s comments came shortly before the end of her mandate

Rodríguez’s government has been standing since the earthquake
increasingly under pressure. Critics accuse her of reacting slowly and uncoordinated. Residents of the particularly hard-hit state of La Guaira reported that they had to search for buried people with their bare hands in the first few days without any significant government help. Rescue workers who were on site complained about the lack of specialized equipment. Rodríguez also rejected allegations that state housing projects were particularly badly damaged due to poor construction quality. Instead, she claimed that around 80 percent of the collapsed buildings were privately constructed. She did not provide any evidence for this.

Rodríguez took over the country’s leadership with the support of the US government after Nicolás Maduro was deposed in January. Her comments came a day before the extension of her 180-day mandate expires.