The death toll from the two major Venezuelan earthquakes that happened within seconds of each other on June 24 has now reached 3,535. Nearly 17,000 people are injured, and tens of thousands remain missing. Rescue operations continue, and, surprisingly, as recently as today, July 6, workers are still finding people who are buried alive.
International aid continues to pour in, and kudos to our military for everything it’s doing. Without the U.S. response, this would be a total disaster. I’ve seen so many Venezuelan people say they long for the day when they can have a military like ours — one with morals and pride in their country and the work they do, not one corrupted by decades of tyranny. These images of some of our guys spending time with Venezuelan children and families really touched my heart, because as much as the people there need physical support, they need emotional support as well. Many people have lost their homes or even their entire families.
En La Guaira, el creciente desprecio hacia los militares chavistas es proporcional al aumento del afecto hacia los militares estadounidenses. pic.twitter.com/aK3yUESllk
— Gabriel Bastidas (@Gbastidas) July 6, 2026
Tens of thousands of buildings have damage or have collapsed completely. The earthquake has exposed just how poorly built and maintained much of the country’s infrastructure was, which comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention for the last 30 years. But the bigger picture here is that it exposed how fragile the political situation is and how much worse it could get in the days and weeks to come if it’s not handled carefully.
When we first captured Nicolás Maduro, Marco Rubio made two things clear. The first was that “interim president” Delcy Rodríguez is not the endgame. We all knew she was just as corrupt as Maduro and was merely the Trump administration’s pragmatic little puppet, who will do everything they tell her to so she can save her own head.
The second was that there was a very specific three-point plan for the country. First, stabilize. Make sure the country doesn’t break out into some kind of civil war. Second, recover. Get the country’s oil flowing again so it can have an economy. Third, hold elections and transition to a real democracy.
To be fair, when he was coming up with this plan, I’m guessing the Secretary of State didn’t plan for one of the worst natural disasters the country has ever seen, but if things keep going like they are, he’s going to have to pivot quickly.
Within the first 24-48 hours, the only person who seemed to be doing anything was Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who had teams on the ground immediately. The Venezuelan people and independent journalists there were reporting that Team Delcy wasn’t really doing anything at all, and, at times, even denying access to media and volunteers, stealing aid, looting, charging families fees for the bodies of their dead loved ones, and refusing to mobilize the few resources she has access to. Last week, during a press conference, several international journalists confronted Miss Interim President about this, and she was defiant and untruthful. Regime is gonna regime, but rescuers from the United States and other countries have confirmed that, without a doubt, this cost lives.
La cadena Sky News acusa a Delcy Rodríguez de mentir y de arremeter contra la prensa, dice que han constatado que son los civiles los que han liderado las labores de rescate y que los militares donde han aparecido los han visto robando:pic.twitter.com/QBw8yT5gD5
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) July 3, 2026
Typical socialism: the interim government taking from the Venezuelan people while blocking the help they desperately need. Delcy Rodríguez and Diosdado Cabello must stop standing in the way of rescue teams and humanitarian aid. The people of Venezuela deserve relief now. https://t.co/bW2Nr8y9ax
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) July 1, 2026
The Wall Street Journal actually has a great article suggesting that the reason why they’re turning help away, particularly in the hardest hit area of La Guaira, is that it’s “ground zero” for drug trafficking, money laundering, and other regime-linked smuggling. Remember, Maduro’s “government” was basically a cartel. About a month or so before we captured him, Rubio designated Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The WSJ article also alleges what those of us who have been following closely know to be true: that the earthquake is exposing Delcy’s and Diosdado Cabello’s core rottenness.
The other big problem was that opposition leader, and the woman who should be president, María Corina Machado was denied entry back into the country. Just to recap, after living in hiding for 18 months plus, she escaped Venezuela in December to go to Norway to accept her Nobel Peace Prize. She’s been outside of the country since, vowing to return when the time was right. In the wake of the disaster, she decided it was time — time to risk her life and return and mobilize a civilian response, something she’s very, very good at doing. Something her constituents want desperately…
But, after attempting to fly both privately and commercially, the regime supposedly refused to allow her into the country, so right now, she remains stuck in Panama. There were some rumors that the Trump administration didn’t want her to return because they wanted the focus to be on rescue efforts and felt she would be a distraction. That’s understandable, but there are also rumors that something more diabolical is at play (I don’t necessarily buy into these after speaking to sources whom I trust). Whatever the reason, Machado is stuck in Panama, and it’s making the Venezuelan people quite unhappy.
They have tried to remain patient while the Trump administration works with Delcy, trying to understand this pragmatic solution, even if they all know she’s just as bad as Maduro. But the way she has responded to this situation has left their patience wearing thin. I don’t even know how to put into words just how popular Machado is in that country. She won the opposition primary with something like 90% of the vote, and when she wasn’t allowed to run for president after that, her hand-chosen surrogate had at least 70% of the vote, despite intimidation and other efforts to keep people from going to the polls. This woman is the one brave soul who has looked Chavismo in the face and didn’t back down, and if not for her efforts, I have no doubt that Maduro would probably still be in power. She is their hero, their savior, a woman second only to God in their eyes, and they do not like the idea that she’s being kept away from her country when they feel it needs her most.
Over the weekend, a third problem popped up. Delcy’s tenure as “interim president” officially became unconstitutional. According to the Venezuelan Constitution, the country can only go 180 days without an elected president. Their legislative branch (which is currently led by Delcy’s brother) must now call elections within 30 days. The folks on the ground there are angry that no one seems to be honoring that.
All of this is enough to make the Venezuelan people uneasy and potential investors hoping to help rebuild the country unsure. And rightfully so.
The Venezuelan people largely love the United States. The country is not as divided as some left-wing outlets like to make it out to be. They are grateful for Donald Trump and Rubio and what they did on January 3, and the administration has made great progress there.
But if the Maduro-turned-Delcy regime is allowed to continue operating like they are — not releasing all political prisoners, denying relief to those impacted by the earthquake, etc. — these people will lose their patience, and the unrest that Rubio says they managed to avoid in phase one of his three-point plan could very well still happen. I know it’s on the radar, and I have heard that from someone directly involved with the rescue mission.
And I know that Rubio has fought for this country for decades and knows the ins and outs better than almost everyone. I just hope he has a clear path forward that the rest of us don’t understand just yet, or all of this will have been for nothing. The Venezuelan people deserve a free and stable country, and a free and stable Venezuela is something that will benefit every other country in the Americas, especially the United States.
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