World
Baby rescued from rubble as Venezuelans search for earthquake survivors
Venezuelans are grappling with a stark question: after years of economic and political strife and now devastating twin earthquakes, can their country recover, or are the cracks just too deep?
Rescue teams and neighbours are still searching for survivors as the scale of the disaster comes into sharper focus – more than 1,400 are dead and thousands more remain missing.
“Some very tough days are coming,” said Caracas resident Neida Pernilla. Her apartment in the Venezuelan capital was destroyed in Wednesday’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that came within seconds of each other. But she says she is among the more fortunate – she and her relatives survived.
“I think we have to learn from everything we’re going through. That life is fleeting – just a moment. We have to thank God, the Virgin Mary, whatever we have faith in, for the fact that we’re alive, and we need to be more human, more cooperative, more humble.”
The quakes have hit the rich and the poor, millions of people, especially in the north of the country. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez told Venezuelans they were not alone. But decades of economic mismanagement have made it harder for the government to respond to the natural disaster on top of the long-running humanitarian crisis.
Residents have turned to taking essential supplies from stores in the port city of La Guaira, among the worst-hit areas.
Food and clean water have become scarce in the city, which is only about 20 miles from the capital but is largely isolated now because of collapsed roadways and damaged bridges.
“It’s been us, the families, trying to dig through debris to find our relatives,” said Mileidy Duque, 43. “My 82-year-old mother, my brother, my daughter and her boyfriend are still missing.”
Her family lived on the second floor of the Luisa Caceres de Arismendi building, government housing that was inaugurated by ousted President Nicolás Maduro in 2015.
“This situation is so sad, not just for me, but for all of Venezuela. I have no words to explain how it feels to fear that your family is trapped in there,” Duque told CNN. “I feel like my hands are tied, it’s very difficult.”
Lindomar Milla’s sister and brother-in-law are among the known dead from the Playa Los Cocos neighbourhood in La Guaira.
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP
“I’m heartbroken, but I thank God that I know where they are,” Milla told CNN, sitting outside the morgue in Caracas where their remains had been taken. “There are families from all over the country who still don’t know if their relatives are dead or alive. It’s so painful.”
Many in La Guaira remember a previous tragedy, when the city was hit by massive landslides after torrential rain in December 1999. An official death toll was never published, but researchers at the Central University of Venezuela estimated nearly 15,000 people died.
“This was much worse than the mudslides,” Milla said. “So many people are still looking for their loved ones. There are people who travelled to La Guaira and found buildings that no longer exist.”
A fog of grief and tension
Hundreds of aftershocks have rattled buildings and nerves, as the seconds ticked away in the so-called 72-hour golden window, when it is most likely to find victims alive in the rubble.
Cheers ring out when survivors are rescued – moments of relief, even joy, and an emotional release from the grief and tension that feel palpable in the streets.
But so many are still missing. As days pass and the tropical heat hits impacted areas, many have resorted to wearing face masks to shield themselves from the smell of death and decay.
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP
“I have been feeling so much pain and uncertainty,” said Susana Henríquez, standing behind yellow tape keeping her and others from what is left of the Petunia residential complex in the upper-middle-class Palos Grandes neighbourhood of the capital. Two towers had risen from tree-lined roads behind gates that secured the community. Henríquez escaped from her home in Petunia II. The other tower collapsed.
“We want to trust that our neighbours in the Petunia I will be rescued alive,” Henríquez told CNN.
She’s a reminder of the humanity and the full lives of all those trapped and missing. More than numbers, they are friends and relatives whose names are known. “I have so many friends there,” Henríquez said, fighting back tears.
‘Inspiring’ displays of altruism
Many families here are used to living with little. Food costs more than most can earn, even working multiple jobs, and economic crisis combined with a repressive government has driven millions of Venezuelans to seek better lives, in neighbouring Colombia or further afield like in the United States, sending money back when then can.
Now Venezuelans are coming together to gather water, medicine, food and clothes for those affected by the quakes.
Mariana Sanchez, a 20-year-old student, was walking through Caracas with a bag of supplies for anyone in need.
“A group of us friends decided to get together and begin collecting food and other materials to bring to people who have been impacted. I’ve seen several other university groups coming together like this,” she said. “People are very appreciative. It’s in times like these when Venezuelans come together and help lift each other up, it’s very inspiring.”
FEDERICO PARRA/AFP
“No matter how many years pass since I left Venezuela, I will always feel it when the country is hurting,” Miami resident Marcos Mirabal told CNN at a donation drive. “I brought diapers, flashlights, clothes. My daughters have so much clothing and there are so many children in the country who are suffering right now.”
Some of those not consumed by simply surviving are asking if the response could have been quicker if Venezuela had stronger emergency services with better equipment, or had invested more in hardening its infrastructure against a known risk.
Collection sites have also been set up in cities with large Venezuelan populations, like Miami, New York and Madrid.
“It’s unbelievable that this is 2026 and this country is still operating this way,” Gustavo Quintero told CNN. “We’re having to find the names of our loved ones on hand-written sheets of paper; firefighters don’t have the necessary resources to help people. There aren’t the minimum logistics.”
Venezuela has been troubled for decades but for people like 18-year-old law student Miguel Martínez, the focus right now is on the immediate question of whether his classmate can be brought out alive. Maybe then, a better future will come into focus.
“We never give up,” Martínez told CNN. “We’ve already been through so much and when things get tough all we can do is lift each other up.”
Source: CNN & RNZ
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted of his endorsement from Donald Trump on the eve of Israel’s election, suggesting the two leaders could restart their war against Iran if he wins, after Trump said they should “finish the job”.
“US President Donald Trump has come with a friendship that has never existed before between an Israeli prime minister and an American president. And it is doubtful we will ever have such a friendly president again,” Netanyahu said in a televised appearance late on Sunday night. “He has another two years, and he says he is calling on you to vote for me.”
In his own social media post on Sunday, Trump, who launched the Iran war jointly with Netanyahu in February, said: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!”
Netanyahu said Trump was willing to take action “that would finally, finally, remove the Iranian threat”, but only as long as Netanyahu himself remains in power.
“And I have already instructed the Mossad and the IDF (military) to bring down this regime, to bring down this regime because that is the only way to put an end to this threat,” Netanyahu said, referring to Israel’s main intelligence service and military.
Asked for comment on Netanyahu’s remarks, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said: “As President Trump stated, Iran is in very bad condition, both economically and militarily, and the blockade will remain in full force and effect, with oil flowing in record numbers of barrels through the Hormuz Strait.”
“The United States will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections,” Kelly added via email, referring to the November 3 vote in the US.
Netanyahu’s leading opponent, centrist former military Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, posted his own comments on social media, praising Trump as “a true friend of Israel”.
“I value his efforts and his commitment to Israel’s security, and I am confident that he will work in full cooperation with any leader chosen by the people.”
Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP
Eisenkot accuses Netanyahu of fear-mongering
Tuesday’s vote, Israel’s first since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, is the first chance for voters to deliver a verdict on the worst security failure in generations and the wars on multiple fronts that followed.
With Netanyahu already at the helm of the most right-wing government in Israeli history, politics have shifted even further to the right. Nearly all Jewish-led parties, including that of the hawkish Eisenkot, now oppose the “two-state solution” that underpinned decades of peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
But many voters say the divisive politics of Israel’s longest-serving leader make the country weaker. Polls suggest Netanyahu’s Likud Party will lose seats, potentially depriving his coalition of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties of its narrow majority.
Eisenkot and an array of opposition parties ranging from the rump of the centre-left to the right, also have no clear path to unseat him.
Netanyahu, 77, is an unrivaled master of political survival: the only time since 2009 that opponents managed to wrest him briefly from the premiership, it took four inconclusive elections within two years to get him out. He was back 18 months later.
Neither side planned major public events for Monday. But both posted on social media, drumming on the election’s major themes: for Netanyahu, that he is the only leader with the mettle to face down Israel’s enemies; for his opponents, that his divisive politics have weakened the country.
Netanyahu shared an AI-generated video on Monday of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father Ali Khamenei was killed on the first night of US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February. Lying in a hospital bed, the younger Khamenei says his own vote would be “definitely not Bibi. Another term like this and I will be meeting my father sooner than expected.”
On Sunday Netanyahu posted a computer-generated photo of a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv, saying Israel was in existential danger from Iran.
Eisenkot responded by accusing him of “relying on a campaign of fear-mongering, lies, and threats – including images of nuclear bombs in the heart of Tel Aviv. This time, it won’t work for him.”
Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu carries its own political risks a week before a legislative election in which his own Republicans are seeking to hold onto power.
The Iran war is deeply unpopular in the United States, blamed for a surge in prices especially for fuel. Major fighting has been suspended for months after ceasefire negotiations held without Israeli participation.
Source: Reuters & RNZ
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