Venezuela suffers while denied its Riches

A phenomenon quite rare for Venezuela occurred late last month and has that nation reeling to recover. This Caribbean-basin nation was struck by the unimaginable, two massive earthquakes the same day: one measuring 7.2 and the other 7.5 on the Richter scale.

This double whammy brought many high rise buildings, shopping centers and residences across several states crashing down. The loss of life stands thus far in the region of upwards of 4,000 souls with many more unaccounted for; and they probably would never be accounted for.

When just last Thursday there was another aftershock in the region of 3, one can imagine the terror among residents still trying to come to terms with this major tragedy. Many are still in tent cities, many trying to manage in damaged houses.

What has been the response from the international community? The United Nations has launched an appeal for roughly $300 million dollars to assist the 1.3 million persons in urgent need of aid. Mobile kitchens and field hospitals are now spread over public spaces in the northern state of La Guaira where most of the devastation occurred. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who has held the reins since the elected President Nicholas Maduro was kidnapped by invading United States forces on January 3,2026, is at wits end. She faces criticism from angry residents accustomed to a formerly well oiled State machinery accustomed to doling out welfare assistance. The problem is that Venezuela has billions of dollars in gold frozen in British banks which her government has no access to. Her government has been appealing to the British Government to release these funds so that her government can use it to help the nation’s recovery.

Since President Maduro’s ouster to a New York jail, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been operating like a viceroy from days of old. It is he who decides what happens to the monies from the sale of oil from this nation with the largest petroleum deposits in the world. Even visits abroad by the Acting President Delcy Rodriguez have to be approved by “Viceroy” Rubio. The US Embassy in Caracas says that around $386 million dollars in financial assistance to Venezuela following the June 24th double quakes.

It is reported that the US Treasury has “temporarily authorized specific financial transactions normally blocked by sanctions to accelerate the delivery of earthquake aid.” Sounds great on paper, but the reality is that it is the sitting government which has to respond to the day to day requirements of a suffering people. There is a mounting bureaucratic network which supposedly manages the use and distribution of funds via “specific International agencies and trusted non governmental agencies. So people suffer while bureaucrats fiddle. This is all so reminiscent of what occurred following Haiti’s massive earthquake with a host of US agencies and contractors employed to assist the nation with a result that much of the monies promised never did get to those in need.

The United Kingdom holds reportedly 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold with a value of roughly $4 to $4.8 BILLION sitting in the vaults of the Bank of England frozen since 2018, a sanctions imposed upon this supposedly sovereign nation. Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, has since the tragedy struck, formally written to Britain’s King Charles III to release the funds which belong to the Government of Venezuela and which are needed for humanitarian aid and reconstruction. How can it be correct that a nation is at its lowest ebb with massive loss of life and has to be begging to have its property released for the nations’ use?

It is evident that the politics of brinksmanship and spite hold precedence over the lives of the people of Venezuela in one of their darkest moments. It is the continuation of the politics of siege such as it continues in relation to the Republic of Cuba which continues to be deprived of the importation of petroleum needed to run the nation’s hospitals, factories and just to electrify homes. The major centers of power prefer to hold nations and their people at ransom even if their populations starve, are made to endure huge inconveniences or even suffer loss of life as long as it keeps them under their imperial boots.

Where is the respect for humanity when the richest nations continue to play with the lives of the people of the global south?