Kinley Salmon

speaker

169 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 1 Jul

Kinley Salmon’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

The Intelligence from The Economist · Fault lines: Venezuela’s paltry earthquake response · 1 Jul 2026 podcast

I think it's safe to say that part of the response from Washington, and indeed from Donald Trump himself, has been quite strange.

In the US, of course, has been doing some things.

And I think it's now a question of just how far they're going to get involved in large scale reconstruction as well as the immediate response.

The quake has caused six point seven billion dollars in material damage alone.

My colleague spoke to a former American ambassador to Venezuela who said the United States has a duty to Venezuela, given the overt interference it has undertaken in the country in seizing Maduro in January and the

the privilege under which it's had the country since.

He said there should be a full effort of American assistance, including deployment of a hospital ship.

There's not been, I think, yet an indication from the Trump administration that it's ready to go quite that far.

But it has dispatched a military vessel towards the Venezuelan coast.

It sent specialized search and rescue teams.

And American military personnel have repaired the earthquake damaged runway at the main Caracas airport.

So some action, but there's also I think irritation in Venezuela at how positive US officials have been in some cases about the overall response and in particular the regime's response.

People don't see or feel that on the ground in quite the same way.

Well, America's plan for Venezuela was supposed to happen in three stages.

When I was in Caracas a few months ago, people could even quote these to me on the street: stabilization, recovery, and then transition.

And the idea is that stabilization and recovery could take place while Delcy Rodriguez serves as interim president.

But the third stage of transition means democratic elections at some point.

There's been no timetable given for that, at least from the top of the

Trump administration.

And the earthquake could well be used as a reason to delay that third stage.

Showing 41–60 of 169 · page 3 of 9