Fault lines: Venezuela’s paltry earthquake response
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What is the opening overview of the Venezuela earthquakes and their immediate impact?
The Economist. Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Palmer.
Today on the show The Frontier of Food Delivery Robots and the Mysteries and Mystery of Harlan Coben.
But first
It's been one week since two earthquakes rattled Venezuela, the largest in a century. Yesterday, rescuers climbed among the rubble in the state of La Guayra. Calling for silence so that any cries from the wreckage could be heard. Then a sliver of good news. A three-year-old boy was pulled out alive. It's a story that will only get rarer as days tick by. But volunteers like Juan Andrade say they will keep searching.
Nadie con vida. Pero la fe todavía la tengo intacta, de que si voy a seguir, voy a, voy a sacar mi familia. Y voy a sacar a la gente que necesitamos sacar y vamos a seguir dándola.
He hadn't yet pulled out anyone alive that day, but he says his faith is still intact that he will get his family out. The dangers aren't over. An aftershock on Monday made a bad situation worse. The death toll is nearing 2,000.
It's Pretty grim still in Venezuela.
Hinley Salmon is a Latin America correspondent for The Economist.
The morgues in La Guayra, one of the hardest hit areas near the Capitol Caracas, they are overflowing. There are thousands of people displaced, and this is really a huge blow for a country where there were growing hopes that it might be getting back onto its feet. Instead now what we see is a real beginning of public anger at the regime in Venezuela's response to this earthquake.
And Kinley, we're a week on now from the earthquakes. What do we know on the ground, the extent of the damage?
Well, the damage is just huge. In terms of the death toll, that is unfortunately still going to rise higher. There are five thousand people injured, hundreds of buildings flattened or damaged, and also critical infrastructure, including health centers that have been seriously damaged and making them unable to be used.
How severe was the damage and casualty toll one week after the quakes?
So it's a very difficult situation still right now, a week on.
Well let's wind further back in time. You said there was some hope that the country was getting back on its feet. What did you mean by that?
Well, since the capture of Nicolas Maduro in January, he was the authoritarian president of Venezuela and was seized by US Special Forces. Since then, Delcy Rodriguez, she was Maduro's former vice president, and she's been running the country, but with close collaboration with Washington, under the watchful eye, if you like, of Donald Trump. And both sides have sold that as mutually beneficial. America has eased sanctions. On Venezuela and on Miss Rodriguez herself. And in return, Rodriguez has maintained stability. She's reformed some of the rules that made it very hard for investors from outside the country to get into Venezuela's oil or mining sectors. And she has released quite a number of political prisoners, not all though.
So a sense of stabilization and perhaps a little bit of liberalization. Of course, Donald Trump's portrayed this as an enormous strategic success.
Venezuela's doing better right now than they've ever done in the history of their country. Sort of like a joint venture.
But I think that narrative, which was already being overstated by Donald Trump, is now being severely tested.
And you say that Venezuelans are angry at the government's response so far or lack of it. What has there been a lack of?
Well, that's right. My colleague's been speaking with a number of people, telling him that they've been left on their own in that first critical 48 hours after the quakes, when there's the highest chance of getting people out alive. A lot of people saying it was just volunteers. There was not really any serious government help. Aid has been arriving since then, but slowly. And there's been just crucial shortages, a shortage of heavy machinery to move rubble. Or in some cases, there's been machines, but no fuel for the machine. Leaving people scribbling with their hands trying to find loved ones. And it's also, I think, the case that a lot of this very weak response is a result of a hollowing out of the Venezuelan state over decades of corruption under the Maduro regime, under its predecessor of Hugo Chavez.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening overview of the Venezuela earthquakes and their immediate impact?
0:03–2:48
2
How severe was the damage and casualty toll one week after the quakes?
2:48–4:52
3
Why are Venezuelans angry about the government’s disaster response?
4:52–7:09
4
What role is the United States playing in the relief and reconstruction effort?
7:09–9:34
5
How might the earthquake be used politically to delay Venezuela’s transition?
9:34–12:18
6
What is the food‑delivery robot trial in Milton Keynes and why does it matter?
12:18–14:39
7
How does Starship Technologies achieve lower unit costs than human couriers?
14:39–17:33
8
Why is Harlan Coben’s Netflix franchise described as ‘cheesy but gripping’?
17:33–21:15