CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela — The stench of decomposing bodies hung heavy over streets of flattened buildings Thursday 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 almost eight days under the rubble. National broadcasters reran footage all day 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 the crevices.
But 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 caskets.
The government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, whose response to the earthquake has been widely criticized as slow and disorganized, has counted at least 2,295 people killed by the earthquake and more than 11,000 injured.
With thousands sleeping in crowded shelters or outside, doctors have voiced concern that the fallout could pave the way for a widening medical crisis of untreated injuries and infectious diseases in a healthcare system already on the brink.
Uncertainty over the future of Rodríguez’s leadership
Faced with complaints that foreign crews and civilians have shouldered most of the rescue efforts, Rodríguez sought to defend the government response a day before the extension of her 180-day mandate as acting leader was set to expire. Rodríguez served as deputy to former President Nicolás Maduro until he was ousted by the United States in January. She became interim leader with the backing of the Trump administration.
With little transparency by Venezuelan officials, it was unclear what would happen once the deadline passes on 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 Venezuelan leader has strong support from lawmakers and the Trump administration. The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.
U.S. support of a government under fire
Since the U.S. capture of Maduro, the Trump administration has expanded its role in Venezuelan affairs - a seismic shift in relations between the long-adversarial nations.
The U.S. has thrown 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 her 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 U.S. companies.
John M. Barrett, the U.S. chargé d’affaires to Venezuela, said Wednesday that revenue from Venezuelan oil production, controlled by the U.S. Treasury since Maduro’s seizure, is also being made available for relief efforts.
While the U.S. has committed over $300 million in assistance to the response, 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, he added, and said production continues to increase.
Oversight of where that money flows is crucial, said Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela program director at the independent human rights organization Washington Office on Latin America.
Even before the earthquakes, it was difficult to track how the seized oil revenue was being spent, she said, adding: “There are a lot of transparency questions that linger on the use of that fund in a moment in which Venezuelans really need that money to be used for the protection of Venezuelans.”
When asked about growing criticism over the Venezuelan government’s relief efforts, U.S. officials have been vocal in their support for Rodríguez.
“What I can say with confidence is that the local authorities have fully complied with our requests and have accelerated this massive humanitarian response,” Barrett said.
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Ben Finley in Washington D.C. and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report.
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Corrects that the deadline for the acting president expires on Friday, not Thursday.
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