The earth didn’t just shake. It roiled. It revolted. It roared.
It’s still not clear how many have died, are injured, or have lost their worldly possessions. 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000…
After a certain point, the exact figures fade into the horizon, blurring and losing all form after being consumed by a thick fog of national mourning and grief.
Our deep-felt need to act, to do something, spurs us to push past the barriers of collective pain and force back the soul-quivering sorrow that currently demobilizes all Venezuelans.
I was at home when I felt the quake – relaxing just hours after sending my latest column to MLT, in fact – but I have been lucky enough not to become just another statistic. Yet, like most here, I have friends, family, comrades in the affected area who are still to report if they are alive or… not.
The human loss is irreplaceable, and – like other Venezuelan disasters such as the 1999 Vargas tragedy or the 1967 earthquake – will go down in history due to its scale. But it will also be remembered for individual stories of heroism and bravery from the men and women catapulted in horrendous milliseconds from the shopping line or having a drink with friends to apocalyptic scenarios of bare human survival. The mother who died saving her newborn. The dog who accompanied his owner under the rubble for 3 days. There are countless more.
Venezuelan’s working class is resilient, courageous and has huge hearts filled with solidarity. We have survived our fair share of trauma: floods, blackouts, repression, coups, explosions, mudslides, $1 monthly wages, US bombing campaigns, and now – a devastating earthquake. We have confronted them all, in part, by extending our hand to our neighbors, to those in need, and putting aside differences to push forward with humanity, rather than racial or class divides, at the forefront of our minds – always donning our custom humor and wide smiles, despite the gravity of the moment.
We also know how to organize ourselves. While communes and communal councils barely exist anymore, brigades and committees have sprung up, donations get to where they must go, communities come together to overcome the hardships life throws at us. This chaotic discipline we learned from Hugo Chavez.
But this was our first natural disaster in the age of social media, in which gory images travel thousands of kilometers in seconds, transporting even the most distant onlooker to the epicenter of the rescue effort, intensifying our emotional response.
It is also the first mass tragedy since 25% of the population emigrated. From afar, the inability to help or locate loved ones only supercharges the frustration and agony. My heart goes out to those suffering thousands of kilometers away, isolated and scanning social media feeds for a glimpse of a family member’s face.
So many have lost someone or something. But the impact of the material and human loss will not be felt equally by all. The bourgeoisie is always better placed to access emergency private medical care, reunite families, pay for mental health assistance, rebuild homes, replace damaged possessions, and – yes – fund exorbitant funeral fees that are unaffordable to most Venezuelan workers. For the rest, we will have to make do with Delcy’s already-announced $150 “bonuses”, which clearly pale in comparison to the value of the material losses.
It’s still too early to look to rebuild the monumental material damage or ask who will pay for it, people are still trapped under the rubble. Its certainly too early to reflect on the government and international community’s response. What is certain is that no government, no country, no people could ever be fully prepared for such a disaster. Nonetheless important questions will – and must – be asked in due time.
Despite noble efforts, the Venezuelan state is struggling – who wouldn’t be. But years of underinvestment in our healthcare system, mass migration and brain drain, particularly of the medical sector, collapsed electrical, water and telecom systems, corruption, yes, corruption, and of course sanctions, certainly don’t help our ability to respond.
We have already got a taste of how this protectorate government looks to deal with the tragedy: NATO-led aid, IMF funds, SOUTHCOM coordinating (“Thank you Donald Trump,” Delcy said), US Marine Corps on the ground, Starlink (“Thank you Elon Musk,” Delcy said) and X pushed back into the country, our “protector” “protecting” us. Meanwhile, those who were once our “allies” under Chavez suffice to send useless goodwill messages while letting Trump flex and raise his leg to mark his territory like the dog he is.
In due time, questions will also have to be asked about Venezuela’s constructions: the empty-letter building regulations that exist somewhere in a moldy file in some dark and cobweb-infected government office; the 1960s tower blocks rapidly erected in the heat of the oil boom; the popularly-constructed tin-hut house-of-card homes in the shantytowns, all without standards, maintenance, or preparation for such a disaster.
How will our already fragile economy rebound from this? La Guaira State houses Venezuela’s main airports, sea ports, and has a huge tourism industry, while the paralyzing of productive processes across Venezuela’s main industrial sectors of Caracas, Aragua and Carabobo States as working people rightly staff food kitchens, clear rubble, or tend to the injured, will cost millions every hour.
These are the things that capitalism cares about, not the loss of human life (labor power) that is ‘easily’ replaced by the Reserve Army. We would be naive to think that Washington’s ‘goodwill’ assistance covers up anything more than the macabre grasping of a blood-stained opportunity in Venezuela today. It sees an opening. It sees market penetration, investment, rebuilding, displacement of its competitors, exploitation and, ultimately, huge plus value.
As we start to come out the other side of this disaster, the necessary and life-saving temporary emergency measures turn into long-term occupation. Relationships evolve. Market positions are strengthened. Debts are accumulated.
If you don’t believe me, just ask the people of Gaza or Haiti.
I could write 10,000 words about the earthquake and the politics of the immediate aftermath, about Delcy’s look to the north or Trump’s claim to protect the people in “our hemisphere’.
I could also write about the conspiracy theories, such as the Pachamama’s revenge for the damage we inflict in the Orinoco Mining Arc or the suspicious US Embassy “emergency evacuation” drill just 32 days before the ground shook, but there will be time for that.
For now, our thoughts must be with the victims, their families, friends, comrades. Today, we must keep humanity at the forefront of our minds. Fuerza Venezuela.
- First published at Marxism-Leninism Today.