Venezuela’s earthquakes pose first major test for President Delcy Rodriguez

Caracas, Venezuela – On the side of a busy road, waiting for a bus heading towards Caracas, Mairet Perez flicks through her phone, pointing at colleagues, friends and family from her home state of La Guaira.“Gone,” she says matter-of-factly, biting her lip, before moving on to other photos showing heaps of shattered concrete.Beneath the slabs are some of their bodies, she explains. Dozens of people are missing — or dead.The death toll following the twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela on Wednesday evening is creeping towards 1,500, with about 50,000 people registered missing on a crowdsourcing website.On the long journey from the Colombian border, arms packed with supplies for those affected, Perez gets a call — more devastating news. Her daughter’s father, his wife and their nine-year-old son have been found. They didn’t make it.“Everyone in La Guaira is searching and digging out people with their bare hands,” Perez says. “And the government? What have they done? Nothing!”She adds there are still areas where the government has not even accessed yet.While the initial mood in Venezuela after the earthquake was one of panic and anguish, frustration and anger are now mounting over the government's response.For interim President Delcy Rodriguez, the disaster marks the biggest challenge of her presidency so far. As the death toll rises and rescue efforts continue, she faces growing pressure to show her government can coordinate an effective response.In the hours after the earthquakes hit, Rodriguez called a state of emergency, offered her condolences to those who had lost loved ones, and appealed for international assistance.But what came next was what many observers describe as a slow and uneven emergency response.“The government response is anything from totally non-existent to, at best, completely inadequate,” said Phil Gunson, a senior analyst and Venezuela expert at the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank.He explained that, over the past decade, Venezuela’s economic crisis — rooted in mismanagement, corruption and sanctions — has severely weakened the country’s emergency response systems, along with public services for health, water and electricity."Now they lack budgets, personnel, equipment, leadership and planning," Gunson said.International aid and rescue teams have filled the gap. More than 20 teams have now arrived, including from El Salvador, Spain, Qatar and the United States.But Gunson said it’s not enough to give the Rodriguez government legitimacy during the crisis."Even with US assistance, the government is incapable of demonstrating efficiency in dealing with the catastrophe," he said.