Angry Venezuelan Families Accuse Government of Negligence as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Fail Thousands

“Silencio” the rescuers scream, turning towards the road with their fists raised in the air, motioning for everyone to remain perfectly still. The vehicles on the road stop. People stop talking. The diggers fall silent. A rescuer presses his ear to a hole they have just managed to drill through a concrete slab and shines a torch into the darkness below.

They are listening for any sound of survivors calling out from beneath the rubble of a 12-storey building that stood on a busy road in the coastal town of La Guaira — one of the areas worst hit by the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week, killing at least 1,700 people and leaving tens of thousands still missing.

Government Response Draws Fury as Survivors Left to Dig With Bare Hands

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has called the earthquakes the “most brutal natural catastrophe” in Venezuela’s history. But on the ground in La Guaira, residents say the state’s response has been nothing short of criminal negligence.

Miguel Oscar Nuñez stood by the side of a collapsed government-owned building, his 34-year-old son Angel among those trapped inside. “My son, like hundreds of others is trapped under the rubble,” Miguel said, anger etched across his face. “We need more support from authorities urgently to dig them out. It’s possible that the earthquake has not killed him, but can you imagine if he is killed because of the negligence of the authorities?”

Kevin Montilla, 34, lost both his wife Luzmary and his 16-year-old daughter Jhoerliyzmar when their home collapsed. “The rescue operation started very late and it’s been slow,” he said. “Initially it was only people who live in the community who came in to help. The police just came to check, but they did not help. The government’s response has been frustrating and impotent.”

The first official rescue team — Venezuelan firefighters — did not arrive until Friday, nearly two days after the earthquake struck. By that time, residents had already begun pulling survivors from the rubble themselves.

Residents Describe Scenes of Horror as Aid Arrives Too Late

Deilisbeth Herreira was at work when the twin quakes hit. Her daughters — Greydelys, 12, and Graybelys, 13 — were at home. She is still searching. “I have help from no one,” she said through tears at a hospital in La Guaira. “No machines or rescuers have been sent to dig through the rubble. It’s like you have been left on your own to find your loved ones. My daughters were quiet, studious girls. I just want them back at any cost.”

At the Bello Horizonte apartment complex in La Guaira, two high-rise towers collapsed into a mountain of twisted concrete and steel. Residents and volunteers — wearing masks and rubber gloves — were seen using spades and crowbars to claw through debris. William Rodrigues was searching for his uncle. “The stench is horrible here,” he said. “But I am still trying because I am looking for my uncle. We cannot just stand by idly when there might be people alive under the rubble. Help arrived very late in most places, and in some, it has still not arrived.”

Juan Avendo, 60, whose home was also destroyed, described hearing screams from beneath the rubble. “We could hear the shouts of people trapped under the debris,” he said. “So we tried to help them ourselves, using our bare hands, clawing through the debris with our nails.” He and his nephew Enyer Musics managed to pull one woman out alive. “We heard her screaming in the night. But it was dark and we could not do anything. So the next morning we went back and first passed her a bottle of water. And then we worked to pull her out,” Juan said.

International Teams Join Search as Hope Fades for Thousands Still Missing

Rescue teams from Colombia, El Salvador, and the United States have since joined the operation. A few more survivors were found, but on Sunday the official operation at the collapsed building was called off. Juan estimates that hundreds are likely lying dead beneath the debris — bodies that may never be recovered, and a death toll the true scale of which may never be known.

Reporting from La Guaira, anger felt by ordinary Venezuelans against their own government may prove the most lasting aftershock of all. With the death toll climbing past 1,700 and tens of thousands still unaccounted for, the救援 effort continues — but for many families, trust in the state has already collapsed entirely.