Speaker
Anatoly Karmanayev
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
The Venezuelan government's official count stood at around 2,000 dead, but officials themselves suggested the toll could rise to about 10,000, with some crowdsourced estimates of 50,000 missing.
The United States deployed 900 soldiers to Venezuela to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, a remarkable show of direct military involvement.
The Trump administration committed $300 million in aid to Venezuela following the earthquakes, underscoring the depth of the new US-Venezuelan alliance.
In the critical first 24 hours after the quakes — when survivors are most likely to be found alive — there was virtually no organized government response, no heavy machinery, and no civil servants on the streets.
Hugo Chávez's flagship social housing program, Gran Misión Vivienda, built thousands of blocks rapidly for electoral purposes, and many of those buildings collapsed in the earthquakes due to corner-cutting in construction.
Statistical models had predicted a strong earthquake in Venezuela for years, yet the country was unprepared for the disaster.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the most popular politician in Venezuela, is in exile with an expired passport and needs US help to return, but the US has labeled her campaign to re-enter as a 'political stunt'.
After the US extracted Maduro, the Trump administration gained direct control over Venezuela's public revenues and effectively makes everyday decisions about how Venezuela is run.
In his final years, Maduro split Venezuela's state into siloed fiefdoms controlled by different officials who couldn't communicate with each other — preventing coups but also preventing coordinated disaster response.
The earthquakes struck during a public holiday when the coastal area of La Guaira, normally a vacation spot, was unusually crowded with visitors, dramatically amplifying the death toll.
If the opposition stays silent, the US deepens ties with the government they oppose; if they act, they face accusations of politicizing disaster — leaving them in an impossible position.
Ordinary Venezuelans — rich and poor alike — were the first and often only help that many survivors saw, mounting impromptu rescue missions with no experience or official support.
Natasha Villa was driving when Venezuela's earthquake struck. Her car slid from side to side, electrical posts fell, sparks flew everywhere, and communication networks collapsed instantly — leaving her with no way to know the extent of the disaster.
Comedian Carlos Yalambi was supposed to perform stand-up the night of the earthquake. When he finally got a phone signal, he saw buildings collapsing in Caracas — and then the images from La Guaira hit him. 'It was too much.'
Standing on a collapsed residential building in La Guaira, Anatoly Karmanayev encountered something he had never experienced in years of foreign correspondence: the unmistakable physical smell of mass death — decayed flesh rising from the rubble as rescuers dug below.
Venezuela's official earthquake death toll sits at around 2,000, but the government itself has suggested the number could climb to 10,000. Crowdsourcing platforms list up to 50,000 missing. The final figure, Karmanayev says, is not unlikely to end up in the five digits.
Hugo Chávez's flagship Gran Misión Vivienda built thousands of social housing blocks rapidly, distributed to the poor around election time. Corners were cut. Many of those buildings have now collapsed in the earthquake, raising damning questions about whether political expediency cost thousands of lives.
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.
The US controls Venezuela's public revenues, influences its political system, and effectively makes its everyday governance decisions. This isn't a metaphor. Marco Rubio and his team are the real decision-makers — and during a disaster response, that extra layer of bureaucracy cost precious time.
At Venezuela's damaged main airport, Karmanayev watched a senior Venezuelan security official — accused of torture and killings, long sought by the US — calmly watching American military helicopters take off and land just hundreds of yards in front of him. US power, once Venezuela's great enemy, now has free rein.
With the government missing in action in the critical first 24-48 hours, ordinary Venezuelans took over: cooking food, delivering supplies, digging through rubble, opening their homes. Karmanayev, a veteran correspondent, was moved to tears. But he warns it was Band-Aids on a catastrophe.
The US deployed 900 soldiers and pledged $300 million in aid. More significantly, US officials told Delcy Rodríguez they are 'all in' on her. Statements from Washington now imply Venezuela simply approves decisions the US has already made — a stunning reversal of any notion of national sovereignty.
Maria Corina Machado, the most popular politician in Venezuela and likely winner of any free election, is stranded in exile with an expired passport. She begged the US for help returning to her earthquake-ravaged country. Washington's response: her campaign to return is a political stunt.
Carlos Yalambi and friends rode motorcycles into earthquake-devastated La Guaira searching for two missing mothers. The first building was completely collapsed. The second search ended when a random stranger at a bus stop turned out to be the missing woman's own brother — who walked them directly to her door.
The Trump administration had a three-stage plan for Venezuela: economic recovery, political stabilization, then transition to free elections. Secretary Rubio himself admitted the earthquake complicates that plan. The alliance with Rodríguez is now deeper than ever — making elections harder to imagine than before.
In La Guaira, residents are doing something new: openly booing and chasing government officials away from collapsed buildings. Two decades of fear, repression, and lack of independent media had kept this anger bottled up. The earthquake, Karmanayev says, is a cathartic breaking point.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Government 45%
- News 44%
- Society & Culture 11%
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