María Corina Machado Says Venezuela Blocks Her Return as Diosdado Cabello Hampers Quake Rescue

Opposition leader María Corina Machado said Venezuela is blocking her return as earthquake rescue efforts stall, accusing the government of closing its airspace to commercial traffic and canceling her flight to Caracas.

“Catia la Mar, Venezuela – Andreina Velasquez looks up at her multistorey apartment block overlooking Catia la Mar, a coastal city in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira”

Al Jazeera

Machado told reporters in a video posted to X, "The regime wants to block my return to Venezuela, as well as the return of thousands of fellow Venezuelans who want to go and help," and she added that the government blocked journalists' access and ordered cancellations of flights "of all airlines in an emergency situation".

Al Jazeera

The dispute over access to the country’s disaster response also surfaced in a viral video of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello hampering rescue efforts while arguing with a U.S. first responder, according to The Washington Post as cited by Reason Magazine.

In parallel, The National Desk said the Trump administration reported "complete compliance" from Venezuelan interim authorities with humanitarian work following the earthquakes, and it cited State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mignon Houston saying, "The U.S. government stands with the people of Venezuela."

In Venezuela’s northern state of La Guaira and around Caracas, residents and volunteers described a rescue effort they said was driven more by civilians than by the state, with one Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) leader telling Al Jazeera, "In the case of Venezuela, the state has been the last responder."

Al Jazeera reported that help from the federal government only arrived on Sunday—three days after the earthquakes hit—and that in some parts of La Guaira it had yet to arrive at all.

AP News

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth described Angélica Mundrain waiting for heavy machinery to remove slabs of concrete and twisted metal that trapped her son, niece and nephew, and it quoted her saying, "We’ve been abandoned," while she said she and others faced "a lack of organization, a lack of empathy, a lack of everything."

The same NBC 5 report said the government’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez posted that authorities were "racing" to evaluate damaged buildings and that electricity had been restored to 90% of La Guaira, while AP said police and military officers handed out cans of tuna and crackers to displaced people in La Guaira.

Against that backdrop, BBC Mundo described frustration as residents asked for more presence from the State, quoting a firefighter who said, "there are buildings where not a single stone has been removed," and it reported that the UN estimated around 50,000 people were missing.

As the search window shrank, AP said Venezuelans combed more ruins with attention turning to a humanitarian crisis that could persist for years, and it described relief organizations warning that the first 72 hours are the most crucial for rescues.

AP reported that a 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the disaster zone in La Guaira and measured 4.6 magnitude according to the United States Geological Survey, while the death toll stood at more than 1,700 people according to the government.

The BBC said the Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency after the earthquakes and announced a deployment of 14,000 soldiers, while it also reported that Jorge Rodríguez said 21 international delegations had been deployed and that hopes of finding survivors diminish beyond the first 72 hours.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that more than 43,000 people were still unaccounted for according to a crowdsourcing website dedicated to tracking the missing, and it said the UN warned the death toll could rise to 10,000.

Reason Magazine added that Machado accused the government of blocking the arrival of international rescue teams left stranded at airports, while The National Desk said the U.S. mobilized hundreds of emergency responders and $150 million in humanitarian assistance after two earthquakes hit Venezuela.