World
US-led relief effort puts Washington’s post-Maduro strategy in Venezuela to the test
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The United States is mounting a large-scale humanitarian operation in Venezuela after twin earthquakes devastated the South American country, putting to the test Washington’s role as the most influential international partner in the country’s post-Maduro transition.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was deploying search-and-rescue teams, military logistics and humanitarian help after Wednesday’s magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes, which have killed at least 164 people and injured nearly 1,000.
Since a US operation removed Nicolas Maduro from power earlier this year and brought him to the United States to face trial, senior American civilian and military officials have made repeated visits to Caracas, working closely with interim President Delcy Rodriguez on security cooperation, economic recovery and the return of US oil companies.
The devastating earthquake now provides the first major test of how that partnership performs under the pressure of a national emergency.
“This earthquake is the first real test of whether the post-January relationship has institutional depth beyond oil,” said Orlando J. Perez, a political scientist at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
The US State Department has already mobilised a disaster relief team and an inter-agency task force to coordinate the US response, according to senior official Jeremy Lewin, the department’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs.
