The scale of Washington's response to Venezuela's earthquakes is notable precisely because so little about the two countries' relationship would have predicted it.
Three teams, including one from L.A.
The State Department activated three federal urban search-and-rescue teams for Venezuela — from Fairfax County, Virginia; Los Angeles County; and Miami-Dade County, Florida — totaling more than 300 responders and 18 search dogs, flown in aboard Air Force C-17 cargo jets, according to a State Department release. The Los Angeles County Fire Department team sent roughly 71 firefighters, six dogs and tens of thousands of pounds of equipment, CBS News Los Angeles reported, to help search collapsed buildings alongside Venezuelan crews. The U.S. military separately sent airmen to help manage the main international airport, Marines to reopen the port at La Guaira, and positioned a Navy ship offshore, according to U.S. Southern Command. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described it as a "whole-of-government response" that would be "big," "fast" and "effective."
A rescue that traveled
The effort produced at least one widely shared moment of hope: the Fairfax County team pulled a nine-month-old infant and her mother alive from the rubble of a coastal town days after the quakes, CBS News reported. Both survived with minor injuries.
The policy paradox
The mobilization sits awkwardly against the administration's record. After the Trump administration dismantled much of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington offered comparatively little to some earlier disasters abroad, drawing criticism. For Venezuela, the State Department committed $150 million — the bulk routed through the United Nations' humanitarian-coordination office and the rest to relief groups including faith-based organizations — and, NPR reported, quietly leaned on former aid-agency staff and reinstated some response contracts to carry it out. Aid is flowing through the U.N. and nonprofits rather than USAID directly.
A strained relationship
The two governments do not have normal diplomatic relations, and Washington has kept sanctions on Venezuela. To let relief move, the State Department temporarily waived some financial restrictions that would otherwise bar U.S. entities from transacting with Venezuelan counterparts, according to reporting on the sanctions. Aid groups have urged broader relief; the administration has not signaled it will go further. For now, the response has opened a narrow, pragmatic channel between two capitals with little else connecting them — and put Los Angeles firefighters at the center of a rescue effort half a hemisphere away.
