The tragedy that is hitting Venezuela shows no respite. The double earthquake that shook the north of the country has already left a provisional toll of 3,342 dead and 16,740 injured, according to the latest official report released this Sunday by the President of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez. But the real nightmare is just beginning: more than 31,000 people remain missing, according to the citizen initiative ‘Desaparecidos Terremoto Venezuela’, while the government does not update the official figure.
The earthquake, which devastated the area of La Guaira, north of Caracas, also left 6,462 people rescued alive and 17,345 victims who lost their homes. To address the emergency, 79 temporary camps were set up, although the magnitude of the disaster overwhelms any immediate response capacity.
In the midst of the chaos, acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced the creation of a new specialized military unit for emergency management. ‘I have given the order to the Ministry of Defense to create a special task force that will be named Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre,’ she declared during the commemoration of the 150 years of the country’s independence. Brigadier General Pabón Castellanos was put in charge of this force, which has already received the order to deploy immediately in La Guaira.
But controversy is not long in coming. Rodríguez responded to criticism questioning the alleged lack of response from the Venezuelan Armed Forces. ‘They have tried to attack our armed forces, denigrating them, and we have seen them there helping the people, saving lives, pulling out bodies,’ she stressed with a defiant tone. ‘I do not understand how in these moments of pain for Venezuela, of national mourning, there are those who dare to misery, those who dare to plan social outbreaks. There will be no social outbreak here, what there is here is deep social solidarity from our people,’ the president warned.
Meanwhile, uncertainty grows among the families of the missing. Citizen lists already record more than 31,000 names of people whose whereabouts are unknown, a figure that far exceeds official numbers. Desperation is palpable in every corner of the country, where rescue teams work against the clock to find survivors among the rubble.
The double earthquake, which struck with its epicenter in the Caribbean Sea, left a trail of destruction that will take years to repair. While the government bets on the militarization of the emergency, civil society organizes to fill the gaps left by the state. The question hanging in the air is whether this tragedy will unite Venezuelans or deepen the political rifts that already divide the country.
para mi estos kukas lloran x 3342 muertos pero festejan con los narcos de maduro el gobierno militar no arregla nada tendria q hacer percha con todos los zurdos viva peron viva la patria fuerza venezuela carajo
una vergüenza total estos numeros falsos de la oposicion para mi inventan desaparecidos para desestabilizar mientras el pueblo esta firme con nuestra Delcy no va a haber estallido social porque el pueblo unido aguante la revolucion viva el comandante —Ché Guevara Vive