Venezuela's earthquake tests US assistance to the interim government it helped install
Key takeaways
- Washington mobilized rescue teams and supplies for a country with which, until half a year ago, it maintained no cooperative relations.
- US President Donald Trump offered help in a message on his social network in which he said his country stands ready, willing, and able, and instructed all agencies of the government to act quickly.
- The deployment illustrates the shift in the bilateral relationship.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The twin earthquake that struck north-central Venezuela has become the first major test of US assistance to the interim government of Delcy Rodr guez, installed after the capture of former president Nicol s Maduro in a US military operation in January. Washington mobilized rescue teams and supplies for a country with which, until half a year ago, it maintained no cooperative relations.
US President Donald Trump offered help in a message on his social network in which he said his country stands ready, willing, and able, and instructed all agencies of the government to act quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends, he wrote, anticipating that the first reports are not good. The State Department activated a task force and, according to official Jeremy Lewin, is sending search-and-rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies. The acting president said that rescuers from the United States would arrive in the coming hours, along with those from Mexico, El Salvador, Qatar and the Dominican Republic.
The deployment illustrates the shift in the bilateral relationship. After the military intervention that captured Maduro, Trump promoted a tutored transition, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined a three-phase plan —stabilization, recovery and transition toward elections. Trump himself, who in the past called the Chavista government illegitimate, has in recent months displayed his understanding with Rodr guez and, a day before the quake, said the country was doing great. The emergency now forces that cooperation to be tested on the ground.