The earthquakes Wednesday will test how far the US is willing to go to support Venezuela, a country President Donald Trump said the US would “run” after dramatically ousting its authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in January.
At the time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the White House had a three-phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, recovery, and transition.
Since then, Trump has touted the success of the US intervention in Venezuela and his unlikely partnership with acting President Delcy Rodriguez.
Just one day before the deadly quakes struck Venezuela, Trump said the country was “doing great” at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“We’re getting along great. The people running it, they’re our people, they’re great people. And the people are happy in the country. They have smiles. They were miserable, they were starving,” Trump said.
Trump also said the US has “paid for the cost of the war 28 times already,” by extracting millions of barrels of oil. “Now we’re making a lot of money with Venezuela and Venezuela is doing great.”
Trump’s sunny image was already a departure from the reality on the ground, where Venezuela’s roughly 28 million people have continued to struggle with high inflation, low wages, censorship and a deep humanitarian crisis.
But Wednesday’s disaster — which has caused widespread destruction, particularly in the capital Caracas — will likely throw the country into further economic and political turmoil.
Trump said the US “stands ready, willing, and able to help” in a post to Truth Social late Wednesday.
“I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly,” Trump wrote. “We will be there for our new and great friends.”
It remains to be seen how far this commitment will stretch — and whether the US will help Venezuela achieve the stability and economic growth it promised.
