Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors on June 24 devastated the coastal state of La Guaira, where at least 190 buildings fell apart. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The fallout from Venezuela’s powerful twin quakes has evolved into a major test for acting President Delcy Rodriguez, sending her scrambling to prevent the humanitarian disaster from becoming a political one as her mandate as interim leader expires Friday (July 3, 2026).

A day after Ms. Rodriguez angrily defended the competence of her government’s relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, issued her own appeal.

Speaking Friday (July 3, 2026) from Panama, Ms. Machado argued that the government’s quake response exposed its critical weaknesses and that her return to Venezuela “contributes to facilitating the transition process, especially after the tragedy”.

“My presence stabilises the situation; it is part of the organising forces that the country needs at a time when the total absence of the state has become evident,” Ms. Machado said, referring to widespread criticism of the government’s earthquake response as slow and disorganized. “The country needs figures it can trust.” The quakes have killed more than 2,295 people and injured over 11,000 others, according to the government, which has not offered updates on the dead and injured since Wednesday.

Ms. Machado’s opposition movement has set up a digital database to locate the missing that currently lists over 36,000 people unaccounted for. Her party has mobilised volunteers to collect donations in Venezuela and solicited aid from the country’s vast diaspora.

“My presence … seeks to bring people together, to unify, not only to address an emergency, but also to heal the wound,” said the opposition leader, who was barred from running in a 2024 presidential election in which President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory.

An independently verified vote count carried out by the opposition found that the candidate that Ms. Machado endorsed, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the real winner.

When the earthquakes hit, Ms. Machado saw a critical opportunity to return home for the first time since fleeing last December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Ever since the United States captured Mr. Maduro in a brazen military operation in January, Ms. Machado has been seeking a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has thrown its support behind Rodriguez since Mr. Maduro’s ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms of the country’s lucrative oil sector and giving no timetable on when elections might be held.

Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic discussions, told The Associated Press that the Trump administration has grown frustrated with Ms. Machado and dissuaded her from returning to Venezuela in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

One official said that Ms. Machado had sought assistance from Washington for ferrying her to Venezuela from the Dutch Caribbean territory of Curacao and also from Panama, where she is now.

The second official said the U.S. suspected she wanted to return to lead protests against Ms. Rodríguez and push for political change at a time when the focus should be on quake recovery. This official added that the Trump administration could not prevent Ms. Machado’s return but was not in a position to facilitate it.

Upon learning of Ms. Machado’s imminent plans to return, Ms. Rodríguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas, the U.S. official said. Those cancelled flights had been due to bring in hundreds of relief workers to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, the official said.

On Monday, Ms. Machado claimed that the government had closed its airspace to prevent her return, without offering evidence. The government did not respond to a request for comment on the alleged closure.

Seemingly concerned that anger over the earthquake response could jeopardise her authority, Rodriguez on Thursday blamed any criticism on what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories”.

She claimed that rescue crews deployed immediately with adequate equipment to disaster zones — contrary to widespread complaints by residents that they were left alone to search for their loved ones without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours.

“Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable,” she said. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately.” She went on to say that thousands of civil and military rescue workers as well as 11 international field hospitals had been deployed to quake-affected areas, adding that the government had approved the creation of a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday (July 3, 2026), state-run media broadcast her paying a visit in the hospital to Hernan Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard pried from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble. His dramatic rescue Thursday (July 2, 2026) served as rare bright spots in one of the bleakest periods in memory for Venezuela.

Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the Vice-president — which was Rodriguez’s former role — for up to 90 days, after which they can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

On Friday (July 3, 2026), that 180-day interim period expired. There was no immediate comment from authorities on what, if anything, they would do in response to the expiration of Rodriguez’s mandate.

The National Assembly, controlled by Ms Rodriguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant. 

Published – July 04, 2026 08:49 am IST

Aerial view of collapsed buildings in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following earthquakes.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday (June 25, 2026) and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 188 people and left more than 200 trapped.

More were feared dead from the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday (June 24, 2026) evening — among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and felt throughout the region. Some 1,500 people were injured, thousands were reported missing and buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon.

In response to the devastation, the U.S. Treasury on Thursday (June 25, 2026) moved to waive some sanctions until Oct. 23 to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela that would otherwise be prohibited.

Meanwhile, in cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and searched for the missing in the debris. Injured children, animals and civilians covered in dust and blood were pulled out of concrete rubble.

One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of missing loved ones. Some stood in silent shock.

The coastal region of La Guaira — north of the capital, Caracas — suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties, and it’s there that the country’s main airport was damaged and closed, complicating aid efforts.

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.

“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendaño. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”

Offers to send aid and supplied poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.

The natural disaster is just the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Mr. Maduro’s capture. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Ms. Rodriguez represents.

Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters; a 1999 mudslide there, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters, killed thousands.

Ms. Rodríguez appealed to businesses Thursday (June 25, 2026) to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, while a United Nations spokesperson said search and rescue teams were just hours away.

“We’re here for the families, and we extend our solidarity to them. We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” said Ms. Rodríguez, who referred to La Guaira as a “disaster zone.”

Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and brother of the acting president, gave updated figures for the numbers of dead, trapped and injured.

While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.

The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.

“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.

During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned Thursday (June 25, 2026) morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.

In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.

“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”

Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old son was missing. Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble.

“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.

Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.

“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”

Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Ms. Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.

Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.

Shortly after U.N. officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Mr. Maduro since August 2024, in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.

Ms. Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.

Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Canada and more expressed solidarity with and vowed to send aid to Venezuela. A number of shipments were already on the way Thursday (June 25, 2026). Aid included emergency and military personnel, canine and search teams, medical supplies, water purifiers, airplanes and drones.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Ms. Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was “immediately” deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources other assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of Venezuela’s main airport created logistical challenges.

“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Mr. Rubio said.

Nearly 24 hours after devastating ​twin earthquakes in Venezuela, people in the coastal city of La Guaira were still using their hands to dig through ‌rubble, trying to rescue their neighbors.

“We are trying to help with what we can, ​but there is a lack of equipment,” said Carlos Borges, who said he was frustrated ⁠by the shortage of machinery like backhoes to move the piles of concrete slabs that were once high-rise apartment buildings.

His team pulled three people from one building, as other anxious family members, including the single mother of a missing teenage boy, waited ‌at the site on Thursday (June 25, 2026) morning. U.S. Geological Survey models suggested deaths could exceed 10,000 after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas on Wednesday. The government of acting ‌President Delcy Rodriguez has confirmed nearly 200 dead and 1,520 injured.

Residents of La Guaira, a popular spot ‌for ⁠beachgoers and the worst-hit city in the country, and Moron, near the quakes’ epicenter, were scrambling ⁠amid limited official help.

“Is it not possible to call in the military? Everyone come, come and pitch in. Put them in an armored vehicle and come help the people. Find tractors wherever you can,” said Argenis Martinez, a resident of La Guaira’s Los Corales neighborhood, who ​was looking for a relative among the ‌rubble.

Some rubble caught fire overnight, despite a cut to domestic gas service. Terrified residents, many with nowhere else to go, huddled in the streets or peered into destroyed buildings, looking for survivors.

The government, which said 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed, mainly in La Guaira, has said aid is on the way ‌from Spain, the United States, Mexico and Qatar and called on the private sector to lend equipment ​like backhoes to help with rescue efforts.

At other places in La Guaira, neighbors pulled two dead people from a house, including a little girl, and saved a mother and two ⁠children, injured but alive, from a destroyed apartment building.

Reuters witnesses saw members of a colectivo — ruling party-allied motorcycle groups who have long been accused of abusing protesters at anti-government rallies — assisting rescue efforts at at least one location.

“My building is ‌uninhabitable and now I have nothing. It’s just me and my son, and I have no family in the country,” said Suhayl Sarquiz, 50, who lost her job a few months ago.

Looting at stores

In some areas of La Guaira, people were looking for food and water, and a Reuters team witnessed looting at at least two stores.

The city’s Jose Maria Vargas Hospital was overflowing with injured, and some patients were being tended to outside, where police were limiting access to the building. Officials there said they had no information for journalists.

“It’s a tragedy,” ‌said Beatriz Rodriguez, 60, whose nephew’s legs were amputated at the hospital after being crushed in the quakes. Another nephew, age 6, ​was killed.

The armed forces are deploying field hospitals to La Guaira, its command said in a press release, and will be able to perform emergency surgeries. A Reuters team in ⁠the city on Thursday saw a military convoy near the local stadium carrying out aid efforts.

Hospitals elsewhere were also struggling.

As ⁠he worked through a 24-hour emergency shift at the modest hospital in Moron, Dr. Augusto Ramirez found himself short of basic supplies.

“We need blood pressure monitors, gauze, thermometers, gloves, plaster, painkillers — everything,” Ramirez ‌told Reuters.

He, two fellow doctors and other staff had treated 112 people since the quakes collapsed houses and cut off electricity and water in the town. Nine have died from skull fractures and other injuries, including ​three children. 

Published – June 26, 2026 04:57 am IST

Rescue workers search for survivors at a collapsed building after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, on June 24, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez and former Opposition lawmaker Dinorah Figuera meet for discussions on a democratic transition in the country, including strengthening the National Electoral Council (CNE), in Caracas, Venezuela June 18, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

In this image posted on June 3, 2026, Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez being received by officials upon her arrival, in New Delhi. Photo: @MEAIndia/X via PTI Photo

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

When Fidel Castro laid out the plans to storm the Moncada Barracks in 1953, his younger brother Raul was just 22. He signed up for the attack. The barracks attack failed, but the revolutionary spirit Fidel kindled would grew into a firestorm, eventually toppling the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. It was Raul who introduced the Argentine doctor Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara to Fidel during the civil war. After the 1959 revolution, Raul became Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, a post he would hold for 49 years. He helped lead the country’s defences during the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and built the revolutionary state’s defences.

When Cuba fell into economic uncertainty after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Raul played a key role in managing and mitigating the crisis. In 2006, he took the reins of the country after Fidel fell ill. During his presidency, which started in 2008, Raul sought to improve ties with the U.S., which had imposed crippling sanctions on the island immediately after the revolution. He legalised private enterprise, took down the controversial dual currency system, and kept his promise to step down after two terms. The Obama administration responded positively to this reform push, by normalising ties between the countries. But then Donald Trump would become the President and undo everything Mr. Obama did with regard to Cuba.

Raul today is 94 and is not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the country. Last week, the Trump administration, which has imposed an oil embargo on Cuba, indicted Raul over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft over the Florida Straits. Raul was then the Defence Minister of Cuba.

The indictment is part of a broad attempt by the Trump administration to punish Cuba’s communist leadership and its 11 million people. The blockade has cut off oil shipments to Cuba, sparking fuel shortages, sharp price increases and prolonged nationwide power outages. Cuba was already in deep economic peril. What made it worse was the U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January. Delcy Rodriguez, Mr. Maduro’s Vice President who became acting president of Venezuela with Donald Trump’s blessings, stopped exports of fuel to Cuba. Venezuela was providing Cuba with 70,000 barrels of crude per day. An American naval blockade in the Caribbean and threats of sanctions persuaded other countries, such as Mexico, also to cut their fuel shipments to Cuba. Russia sent two tankers of fuel to Cuba, defying the U.S. blockade, but that would only buy weeks for the Cuban economy.

Millions of Cubans are enduring power outages lasting up to 20 hours a day. Essential services ground to a halt. Public transport is stalled, banks reduced working hours and flights are disrupted as the government has rationed fuel. Amid this worsening economic crisis, the Trump administration has enhanced the heat on the country by indicting Raul Castro. A regime change in Cuba has long been a goal championed by the U.S. establishment and the Cuban immigrant community in the U.S. Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State who is a Cubam emigre, is known for his hawkish position towards Havana. The administration has reportedly handed a list of demands to Cuba, including removal of Castros from the government, initiating “reforms”, release of political prisoners and steps towards holding multi-party elections. As the U.S. is trying to exit the Iran mess through a negotiated settlement, it is shifting its focus towards Cuba, pushing the country towards an economic collapse.

To understand the evolution of the Cuban system and the role Raul Castro played in it, read this profile of the former Cuban President, written by my colleague Srinivasan Ramani: Raul Castro | The old man and the siege.

The Top Five

1. India sees relations with China in a bilateral context, Beijing has never seen it that way: Vijay Gokhale

China’s past decisions to go to war were not driven by only territorial or military objectives, but shaped by wider political and geopolitical factors, according to a new book China’s Wars: The Politics and Diplomacy Behind its Military Coercion by former Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale.

2. Quad remains ‘vital’, says Japanese Foreign Minister, rejecting concerns over the grouping’s importance in the Indo-Pacific

Ahead of Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Toshimitsu Motegi says critical mineral cooperation is at the top of the agenda, calls for better infrastructure, protection for intellectual property rights in India.

3. ‘Tactical’ relations with other countries will not come at the ‘expense’ of India ties: Marco Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State underlines strategic alliance with India, calls Iran the ‘world’s leading sponsor of terrorism’, says Tehran has been holding civilian vessels hostage; S. Jaishankar calls for ‘safe and unimpeded maritime commerce’

4. The U.S. ends Russia oil waiver, implications for India

The world’s emerging economies are increasingly being caught between geopolitics and energy survival, writes Shrikant Madhav Vaidya

5. Yang Shuang-zi | Daughter of the soil

The Taiwanese author, who won this year’s International Booker Prize, says literature cannot be separated from politics, writes Radhika Santhanam.

Published – May 25, 2026 10:40 am IST