Venezuela’s interim leader angrily defends earthquake response

Venezuela’s US-backed acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday issued a fiery defence of her government’s response to last week’s devastating earthquakes.

She lashed out at critics who say authorities reacted too slowly, pushing back on suggestions that the true death toll is far higher than the government has acknowledged and rejecting accusations that the nation’s shoddily constructed social housing exacerbated the disaster.

The self-described socialist government of Ms Rodriguez, striving for legitimacy months after the United States removed former president Nicolas Maduro from power in January, has come under fire for what residents have described as a sluggish and haphazard response to the quakes.

Residents of the hardest-hit state, La Guaira, have complained that the initial absence of a serious government search-and-rescue operation left them alone to scour for neighbours and loved ones with their bare hands.

Rescuers have lamented the country’s shortages of specialised equipment. Experts have warned that substandard construction of social housing projects — a hallmark policy of former president Hugo Chavez — left neighbourhoods vulnerable to quakes.

At a press conference for foreign journalists in the capital of Caracas late on Thursday, Ms Rodriguez, wearing a black ribbon as a symbol of mourning, refused to accept the criticism.

“We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately,” she said, lacing into media outlets that she accused of spreading misinformation.

“To politicise a humanitarian tragedy like this — when the Venezuelan government and its authorities have spared no effort, public, private, national, or international — is disgraceful.”

Authorities have counted at least 2,295 people killed by the earthquake as of Wednesday — a number that is expected to rise.

They did not offer an updated death toll on Thursday, and have maintained tight control over public communications and relief efforts.

The stench of decomposition hung heavy over streets of flattened buildings as rescue missions to find survivors of Venezuela’s devastating earthquakes increasingly turned to the recovery of corpses.

Desperate for good news, Venezuelan and international emergency workers celebrated the near-miraculous rescue of a 43-year-old security guard found alive after nearly eight days under the rubble, five days beyond the critical 72-hour mark following a quake when experts say finding survivors is most likely.

National broadcasters reran footage of the exuberant moment he was pried free from the collapsed mall and lifted onto a stretcher as crowds cheered.

Trapped in an air pocket beneath the concrete, Hernan Alberto Gil Flores survived on the food and water that rescuers managed to pass him through crevices.

Elsewhere across La Guaira, an air of hopelessness was setting in.

The port city of Catia La Mar teemed with officials carrying body bags and stacking wooden coffins.

More than 38,000 reports of missing people — many of them likely buried beneath the rubble — have been sent to a website set up by the Venezuelan opposition, as the government has not given official figures for those missing.

When one journalist asked Ms Rodriguez about the true, still-unknown toll of the disaster, citing reports that the United Nations is procuring 10,000 body bags, Rodríguez defended the government’s tally.

“We do not want to speculate,” she said. “The numbers we provide are rigorously verified.”

In La Guaira, several of Hugo Chavez’s signature social housing projects were razed by the earthquakes, prompting suspicions of flawed construction.

Ms Rodriguez deflected the accusations, claiming on Thursday that about 80% of the collapsed buildings were privately developed.

She did not offer evidence.