Venezuela earthquakes test Delcy Rodríguez as Maria Corina Machado eyes return

Deadly earthquakes in Venezuela have intensified pressure on interim leader Delcy Rodríguez as Maria Corina Machado seeks to return. The disaster has exposed gaps in relief efforts and sharpened uncertainty over the country's political transition.

In Short

• Government says the quakes killed 2,295 people and injured 11,000-plus
• Authorities have not updated casualty figures since Wednesday, fuelling scrutiny
• Opposition volunteers launched a database tracking more than 36,000 missing

The fallout from Venezuela's twin earthquakes has become a major test for acting President Delcy Rodrguez, as she tries to stop a humanitarian crisis from turning into a political one. The quakes have killed more than 2,295 people and injured over 11,000 others, according to the government, which has not updated the toll since Wednesday. Her 180-day term as interim leader expired on Friday, with no immediate word from authorities on what they would do next.

At the same time, exiled opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said the government's handling of the disaster had exposed its weaknesses and argued that her return to Venezuela "contributes to facilitating the transition process, especially after the tragedy". Speaking from Panama on Friday, she said, "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," and added, "The country needs figures it can trust."

Machado's opposition movement has created a digital database to trace the missing, which currently lists more than 36,000 people unaccounted for. Her party has also mobilised volunteers to collect donations inside Venezuela and sought aid from the country's large diaspora. She further said, "My presence seeks to bring people together, to unify, not only to address an emergency, but also to heal the wound."

Machado was barred from contesting the 2024 presidential election, in which President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory. An independently verified vote count carried out by the opposition found that the candidate she endorsed, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the real winner. When the earthquakes struck, Machado saw a chance to return home for the first time since leaving last December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Since the United States captured Maduro in January, she has been pushing for a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has backed Rodrguez since Maduro's ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms in the oil sector and giving no timeline for elections. Two senior US officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic talks, said Washington had grown frustrated with Machado and had discouraged her from returning after the earthquakes. One official said Machado had sought US help to travel to Venezuela from Curaao and from Panama. The second official said the US believed she wanted to return to lead protests against Rodrguez and press for political change when attention should be on quake recovery. The official said the US could not stop her return but was not in a position to help it.

One of the officials said that after learning of Machado's plans to return, Rodrguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas. The official said the cancelled flights had been expected to bring in hundreds of relief workers for the recovery effort. On Monday, Machado said the government had closed the airspace to block her return, though she did not provide evidence. The government did not respond to a request for comment on the alleged closure.

Facing criticism over the relief effort, Rodrguez said on Thursday that the allegations were based on "narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories". She said, "Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable," and added, "We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately." Residents in affected areas, however, have complained that they were left to search for loved ones on their own without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours. Rodrguez said thousands of civil and military rescue workers and 11 international field hospitals had been sent to quake-hit areas, and that the government had approved a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday, state-run media showed Rodrguez visiting Hernan Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard who was pulled from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble. Under Venezuela's constitution, temporary absences are filled by the vice president for up to 90 days, with the National Assembly able to extend this by another 90 days. That 180-day period ended on Friday. Authorities gave no immediate response on the expiry of Rodrguez's mandate, while the National Assembly, controlled by her party, can call a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.

With PTI Inputs

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