Delcy Rodríguez’s Venezuela is in such dire straits she can’t afford to reject aid from either friends or foes

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Four hours after powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela’s northern coast and its capital, Caracas, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced that he was offering assistance to the Venezuelan government to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy in X.

Ninety minutes later, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez retweeted the message from the regime-backed Central American leader. Chavista The movement has long been seen as a political nemesis; He not only thanks her for the offer, but also instructs the Venezuelan foreign ministry to coordinate support.

“Solidarity between our peoples is an invaluable force in times like these,” wrote Rodríguez, former vice president under ousted leader Nicolás Maduro.

Beyond the solidarity that such tragedies inspire and the political rhetoric that accompanies it, Rodríguez has little room to turn away any government willing to help during this crisis.

Earthquakes led to even more complex problems With years of economic and political strife, especially for an overwhelmed healthcare system. south american nation The economic situation is critical In the wake of disastrous fiscal management and economic sanctions imposed by the United States on the Central Bank of Venezuela and the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Between 2013 and 2021, the country’s economy shrank by three quarters.

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Figures from the Central Bank of Venezuela give an idea of ​​the magnitude of the task facing Rodríguez. In 1998, the year before Hugo Chavez took office, the country’s total foreign debt was US$28.311 billion. Two decades later, the country had a debt of US$108.369 billion in the last year for which official figures in this category were published.

Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros of the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Andrés Bello Catholic University currently estimates the figure at US$161.3 billion; This is an estimate well below the US$240 billion figure. Reported by Finance TimesIt was published on the day the earthquakes occurred.

A terrible prediction

Gloomy forecast from Türkiye US Geological Survey, Projections of billions of dollars in losses and thousands of deaths are reminiscent of another tragedy that occurred more than 27 years ago, in December 1999, during Chavez’s presidency.

December 15 of the same year is the day when the vote was taken to approve the new Constitution proposed by the Parliament. Chavista movement – ​​a massive landslide hit several parts of Venezuela’s central coast, destroying the entire town of Carmen de Uria in La Guaira state (then called Vargas state) and causing hundreds of deaths.

A month later, the Venezuelan government rejected the arrival of two humanitarian aid ships sent by the United States at the request of then-defense minister Major General Raúl Salazar. This was a highly controversial decision, considering the extent of the destruction and the number of people missing.

Years later, I interviewed Salazar, who had retired from active military service, for the Venezuelan newspaper I worked for and asked him about this incident. The high-ranking officer told me that then-President Chavez rejected the aid because he saw it as a violation of sovereignty, but he also suspected that the refusal was due to his alliance with Cuban leader Fidel Castro; This partnership was just getting started at that time.

Chavez has never publicly addressed this specific incident. In January 2007, the then-president declared socialism in Venezuela and began positioning himself as the leader of anti-imperialism in Latin America; This was strengthened not only by his alliance with Castro but also by the support of the governments then in power in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia, while using the country’s immense wealth as a geopolitical weapon to advance his diplomacy.

“We will be there for our new and wonderful friends”

Same area affected by the 1999 landslide Most affected by last week’s earthquakes. Chavez’s past decision has resurfaced on social media as an example of something that should not be repeated. The context changed after the US capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and the Trump administration’s close relationship with Rodríguez – unimaginable last December.

Following the deadly earthquakes, US President Donald Trump declared that the US was “ready, willing and able to help” even before Rodríguez publicly pleaded for help, demonstrating the White House’s growing influence in the South American country.

“I have instructed all agencies of our government to prepare to take swift action,” the president wrote in Truth Social. “We will be there for our wonderful new friends.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US will immediately send search and rescue teams, medical resources and humanitarian aid to the South American country. The State Department announced that the United States will provide $150 million in aid to Venezuela in addition to equipment used to assess damage and locate victims. He pledged to donate $100 million to the UN’s humanitarian aid fund for Venezuela and $50 million to organizations already operating in the country.

Civilian volunteers and rescue teams from around the world, including teams from the United States and many Latin American countries, flocked to the country to search for the wreckage. Rodríguez said on Saturday night: 24 countries had sent aid and more than 2,700 rescuers were in the country to assist in search operations. There are Venezuelans expressed disappointment Due to delayed intervention of the government and unavailability of heavy machinery to save their loved ones.

The heroic efforts of international and local rescue teams provided moments of hope and relief. USA teams saved a baby The US State Department said he was found under the rubble. Rescue workers in El Salvador He successfully rescued a 15-year-old girl and her dog According to President Bukele, people trapped in a collapsed building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, as well as one person, were rescued. Woman trapped for 86 hours.

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Given the scale of the tragedy and the size of its foreign debt, Venezuela needs much more than the aid currently arriving to help those affected and rebuild its infrastructure.

National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodríguez, brother of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, said Sunday that more than 12,000 people were displaced by the earthquakes and 774 buildings, including hospitals, were damaged or destroyed. According to UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, approximately 680,000 children are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance.

The earthquakes have worsened the ongoing crisis that has forced millions of Venezuelans to live in a war-like economy over the past decade, even though there is no official armed conflict in the country.

Prospects for improved living conditions appear to be fading, overshadowing the modest progress that the Rodríguez administration might achieve after less than six months in office: the design of a legal framework more amenable to private investment, a slight increase in the country’s oil production, and a drop in inflation to 6.3% in May from the 10.6% reported by the Central Bank of Venezuela in April.

And this time, unlike the first year of the Chavez administration, where some Venezuelans still see the new president as a source of hope, neither oil revenues nor international aid combined will be enough to cushion the effects of the most powerful earthquake in a century.

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