Quote · The Daily
The Fallout of Massive Earthquakes for Venezuela — and the U.S.
Where this was said
Delcy Rodríguez and the Hollowed-Out State
At 13:25 · chapter starts 11:40
Under Chávez, Venezuela's oil wealth funded a sprawling welfare state: free food, housing, subsidized travel, support for students, the elderly, and even pet owners. Oil revenues made it affordable. Then oil prices crashed in 2014, US sanctions bit, and the model became unsustainable. Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro's economic troubleshooter, orchestrated Venezuela's pivot to a hands-off market approach — easing currency controls, ending expropriations, letting supply and demand fill the gaps left by the retreating state. In Karmanayev's words, paraphrasing a Russian proverb: 'the survival of a drowning is the business of a drowning.' It improved daily life during calm times. But when two massive earthquakes demanded a massive coordinated state response, the hollowed-out government had nothing left to deploy.
Under Chávez, Venezuela's oil wealth funded a sprawling welfare state. When oil prices collapsed and US sanctions hit, Delcy Rodríguez dismantled it. The state stopped providing basic services. People fended for themselves. That worked during stability — but when the earthquake struck, there was nothing left to coordinate a response.
As Maduro grew more unpopular, he deliberately split the Venezuelan state into siloed fiefdoms to prevent organized resistance. It worked against coups — but it also meant that when the earthquake hit, the police, military, civil protection, and healthcare system couldn't coordinate with each other at all.
