{"id":3160,"date":"2026-06-27T18:06:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3160"},"modified":"2026-06-27T18:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:06:03","slug":"earthquake-tests-growing-ties-between-u-s-and-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3160","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake Tests Growing Ties Between U.S. and Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON \u2014 In early January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio huddled with President Donald Trump and U.S. generals to oversee a nighttime assault on Venezuela that resulted in the ouster of the country\u2019s autocratic leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n

Read more Newest Sharks each get unexpected call on draft night: \u201cYou get a little star-struck\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursday, Rubio found himself explaining how the United States would help Venezuela after a devastating double earthquake left many citizens trapped under rubble.<\/p>\n

The United States, he said, would provide a \u201cwhole-of-government response.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThere\u2019ll be some others we\u2019ll add. That\u2019s their most immediate need right now, is search and rescue efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe airport there is badly damaged, so we\u2019ll have to rely on the Department of War to deploy assets there,\u201d he added, using the Trump administration\u2019s preferred name for the Defense Department. \u201cAnd then we\u2019re also helping them with some overhead imagery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s remarks were intended to support Trump\u2019s message on social media that the United States was \u201cready, willing and able to help.\u201d They also signaled that the administration wanted the world to know that its interests in Venezuela could go beyond oil, despite the president\u2019s aggressive assertions that his country deserved to take the Caribbean nation\u2019s most valuable resource.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump mentioned the oil in a speech at a conservative religious conference, saying, \u201cIt was a one-day war, we hit them so hard, one-day war. Now we\u2019ve taken out millions of barrels of oil, and we\u2019ve paid for the war many times over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Department said in a statement that the administration has organized a disaster assistance response team with more than 250 people, including the three search-and-rescue teams mentioned by Rubio. The agency also said the administration was giving $50 million to at least six aid organizations and $100 million to a United Nations humanitarian office working with Venezuela.<\/p>\n

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After the administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development last year, it began relying on offices in the State Department that have a fraction of the resources of that agency.<\/p>\n

The U.S. response to the earthquake \u201cis an opportunity\u201d for the Trump administration, said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.<\/p>\n

In the months since Maduro\u2019s capture, Shifter said, the administration of Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, a Maduro ally, has taken modest steps toward allowing greater political freedoms, including the release of about half of the country\u2019s political prisoners.<\/p>\n

But economic conditions have not improved for most Venezuelans despite high expectations set in part by Trump, who predicted that the country would boom as U.S. companies invested in its dilapidated oil infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s growing concerns about the heavy-handedness of the Trump administration sort of plundering and pillaging their country, and the loss of sovereignty and national control,\u201d Shifter said. Earthquake relief \u201ccould be an opportunity to show that the U.S. is interested in something beyond business and oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Om Malik, whose blog shaped how Silicon Valley saw itself, dies at 59<\/a><\/p>\n

After Maduro\u2019s capture \u2014 what some call an abduction \u2014 Trump and Rubio vowed to launch Venezuela on a gradual transition to democracy. \u201cUltimately, in order to truly transition, they have to have multiparty, free and fair elections,\u201d Rubio told a Senate committee this month.<\/p>\n

But the Trump administration has not suggested a timeline for such a transition, and the process has been slow to begin. Unlike previous U.S. presidents, Trump rarely promotes democracy or human rights, and he criticizes past American efforts to do so.<\/p>\n

One small move among Venezuelan politicians occurred last week, when Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s brother and the head of Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, met with a former opposition lawmaker, Dinorah Figuera, for talks on a democratic transition. The meeting, in Caracas, the capital, was the first between the country\u2019s ruling party and its political opposition in at least a year and a half.<\/p>\n

The State Department said in a statement that it \u201cwelcomed\u201d the meeting, which it called \u201ca first step in what will be a thoughtful process to secure a free and open Venezuelan society.\u201d It added that a transition agenda would include \u201crebuilding Venezuela\u2019s democratic institutions,\u201d strengthening the country\u2019s national elections oversight body, and ensuring free political discourse and participation.<\/p>\n

But Shifter said that many close observers of Venezuela were \u201cpuzzled\u201d by Figuera as the opposition representative to begin the talks. The country\u2019s opposition leader is Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, a popular figure and Nobel Peace Prize winner who remains in exile, and whose ambitions to lead the country Trump has declined to endorse.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has been establishing diplomatic and commercial ties with Venezuela, which Trump had cut in his first term.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government reopened its embassy in Caracas on March 30. American officials have signed initial agreements with Venezuelan oil and mining companies. And on April 30, American Airlines operated the first commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela since Trump ended those in his first term.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has eased sanctions on the country, partly to mitigate the economic fallout from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. In March, the Treasury Department issued a sanctions waiver allowing U.S. companies to do business with Venezuela\u2019s national oil company, PDVSA. The move increased global oil supplies as prices soared after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Rubio told senators this month that revenue from Venezuela\u2019s oil sales is being deposited in a U.S.-controlled bank account, and used to pay government workers and purchase medical supplies and equipment.<\/p>\n

Rubio also noted that the United States and Britain removed a small amount of highly enriched uranium from the country last month that was related to its moribund nuclear energy program. He said that Venezuela \u201cwanted it out of their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Sabrina Ionescu celebrated by Bay Area alma mater with ultimate honor<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. deploys over 250 disaster responders and millions in aid to Venezuela following a devastating double earthquake, testing shifting diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nEarthquake Tests Growing Ties Between U.S. and Venezuela - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Earthquake Tests Growing Ties Between U.S. and Venezuela - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. deploys over 250 disaster responders and millions in aid to Venezuela following a devastating double earthquake, testing shifting diplomatic ties.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-27T18:06:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Earthquake Tests Growing Ties Between U.S. and Venezuela\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-27T18:06:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160\"},\"wordCount\":1036,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0fef5f81b4ce0619ab136787ea8b33c6.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=3160\",\"name\":\"Earthquake Tests Growing Ties Between U.S. and Venezuela - 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