The Current - Anger grows around Venezuela's earthquake response

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Six days after catastrophic twin earthquakes hit Venezuela, the country's death toll has risen to almost 1,500 – but the actual number is expected to be much higher as nearly 50,000 people are reported missing. Ana Vanessa Herrero, a journalist in Caracas, reports on the situation on the ground, and the rising anger at officials for not doing enough. And we talk to Fanny Villarte-Croce, a Venezuelan-Canadian, who shares what she is doing here in Canada to help. 

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Hope is fading for families in Venezuela, missing loved ones after last week's earthquakes. Officially, more than 1,700 people had been killed, but nearly 50,000 others are still reported missing. Ruth Paradis's 12-year-old son, Angel, was dug out from the debris, but it was too late for his brother and father. My little son was alive, but the rescuers came too late. and they didn't have the machines that could have dug him out faster. He died next to his father. Anhelle is now out of the hospital after being rescued,

but he and his mom have no home to return to. Amidst all of the grief and destruction, there were a few moments of hope in the past few days. Aplause as rescuers pulled a newborn baby out of the debris a few days ago. Videos show the baby wrapped in a pink blanket, eyes wide open, being handed to what appears to be their father. There are reports the baby's mother was later pulled out alive as well.

But hope for more rescues like this dim as the days passed and tensions are growing as Venezuelans say their government is not doing enough. Anna Vanessa Herrero is a freelance reporter in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Anna, hello. Hi. We spoke to you last week soon after the earthquakes hit, and I'm just wondering in the past six days or so, what have things been like on the ground? It's been a roller coaster of emotions. I can tell you that. Still people are very much in shock. Everyone have talked to what the first thing I sense. It's absolute shock.

People are still very scared about the possibility of another quake. in the past days, we've had several aftershocks, and two of them were actually really hard. And this Monday, we felt, I actually felt one of them near, in one of the affected sites. I was there, I was, you know, standing in front of the one of the collapsed buildings, and the ground started shaking. And everyone, you could, you could, you could. sense that everyone, you know, was in absolute panic. And I think, I think that the trauma that this, you know, that this develops in everyone. It's something that is really little reported. And I think that's the first thing you can see, absolute shock. Everyone you talk to,

they're trying to cope. People outside are crying, hugging each other. Some of of them are just staring, you know, the void, you know, points and others are trying to, you know, trying to, to overcome what this horrendous tragedy. You have recently been in the hardest hit state, La Guayra, which is on the coast. And I've seen a lot of your social media posts, and you're wearing a mask. And that just made me think, like, what does it smell like the hair? What does it look like? The masks responds to several things.

And the first one is that several days have gone by, and a lot of bodies are decomposing. And the possibility of an infection and viruses just spreading is high. the recommendation is to always wear a mask near the center, near the places that were affected. And then the other one is the dust. There is dust everywhere. Everywhere. You go near the side everywhere there's dust. If you are wearing white, you end up wearing brown.

And that just shows you how intense this is. and how it looks like it's not stopping. It looks like this is going to be a very long way to towards recovery. And also, you mentioned the smell. And yes, there is smell of death. Everyone that has, that is a very particular smell, the one of human bodies decomposing. And you can smell that.

everywhere and it sticks with you. It is overwhelming. It is something that most people now are getting used to. But, but you know, that smell is also the smell of the consequences. That is the consequence of the delay of the government action. Can I ask you more about that? Because there have been, as I mentioned earlier, stories of survival, miraculous one. Those ones, you know, unfortunately are fading. And this is, you know, turning into the next stage of things. And there's been lots of criticism of the Venezuelan government and its response so far. Tell me what you're seeing in terms of response and what the criticism is. There has been crazy delay in taking action. So immediately after the earthquake, I went to one of the sites.

hours after the earthquake, to be honest. But I know people who were there just an hour after the village has collapsed. And personally, I didn't see government officials, military, police. I didn't see them until several hours later. And my first impression when it got to the side was first responders with little to no gear without any kind of planning, waiting there for instructions and to act. And meanwhile, this small group of first responders

were looking at the collapse building and family members were surrounding them, just pleading for help and asking them. And then the civilians were the ones who just jumped into the pile of bricks and concrete and trying to rescue, try to clean the area, to rescue their loved ones.

And so a week later, about a week later, has the government response improved at all? No, it's still very slow. So I was talking to several people yesterday in the White, and I read this line, and they shared that with one of the family members who is just in front of one of the collapsed buildings.

The line said, there are more lung guns than show. And that person, this woman who was waiting for her husband to be found, she said, that is absolutely right. I haven't seen a shovel. I have seen a lot of long guns. I have seen the military just standing here and blocking the way of volunteers, very young civilians saying, you know what, I don't care. I will risk my life for those people, but just let me in. and in some cases they have been able to do so. And those are the success stories you've seen. Just take a look at all the videos, okay? And recently, you're going to see that men trained in uniform

are the ones performing the rescues. But at the beginning, the very first videos, there were all civilians, family members, neighbors, friends, even people who were just like standing there say, you know what, I'm going to get in. So you can see that in every footage that it's being shared. And so the international community, including Canada, of course, has been giving money. People are trying to help. What aid is needed at this point? Look, on the ground, you can see, I don't know where the international aid is going to be distributed and where is it going. But locals, Venezuelans, were the ones who immediately responded to this. and they started buying personally.

They bought with their own money, you know, medical gear and everything from a needle to cotton to alcohol for doctors, for hospitals. And now you can see water everywhere, food everywhere. But the side that was affected Grand Zero is in absolute need of one-on-one response. So all of this aid, you can see it in Caracas. But it is not going through. Authorities are blocking every day. They're blocking the access of this aid. And people in La Waida are in need of just approaching them and saying, what do you need?

You need ibuprofen, then here you go. And doctors are doing the very best I can. They can, but they also tell me that they are not getting through La Waida and they are not being allowed to get in. Just before I let you go, when you were on this program last week, you yourself were trying to get in contact with a friend who went missing after the earthquake. And I'm just wondering, Anna, have you had any news about her? I have. I do have news. I went to Karawya to look for her because that is what everyone was doing. And given that the government was not acting fast enough, a lot of people were just taking matters into their own hands.

So I went to Karawyaa yet to look for her. And when I went exactly five minutes before I got, there. I got the news that she was alive. She is at the hospital in very bad shape, but she's alive. But her baby daughter didn't make it when she died. Yeah. Well, I'm glad your friend is okay and I'm so sorry for her loss in yours. And these stories, you know, when you're part of them, especially, covering them is extraordinarily hard. So please take care of yourself. And thank you again for making time for us, Anna. Thank you. Thank you, Pia. Anna Vanessa Herrero is a freelance reporter in Caracas. We'll be right back with more of the current podcast.

This week on two blocks from the White House. It's the 250th anniversary of independence in America, but celebrating America's birthday is fraught. Between polarized politics, the ongoing war in Iran, sky-high gas prices and concerns about affordability, many are not in the mood to celebrate. Join me, Katie Simpson and my fellow Washington Correspondents, Paul Hunter and Willie Lowry as we break down U.S. politics from a Canadian perspective.

Find and follow two blocks from the White House wherever you get your podcasts. Fani Villarte Croce is a Venezuelan Canadian living in the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario. She is helping collect donations for people affected by the earthquakes. Fani, good morning to you. Good morning. I imagine that Venezuela at once feels very far away right now but also very close. And so as you've been seeing the scenes of devastation, what have you been thinking about? Well, it's a mix of feelings because happiness, when I see all my family, thanks God, they are okay.

They are in Caracas, in Valencia, in many, many places in Venezuela. They are around. But all of them, they are okay. they lost few things but anything lost loss is material their lives are there and all the kids are okay

and that is beautiful but hearing the news from this morning like I had been here on the phone listening I'm kind of shaking because I knew all of that. I knew it because I have a lot of friends rescuing people

like in the debris under the debris there are many, many people we are looking for. My friends are looking for their families in La Guaira. So it had to be. been really, really hard. But here, it was so beautiful the way people respond. Even a friend from Ukraine. Well, a friend after this weekend, I never saw her before and she show up with donations and people from Chile, from Colombia, from New Zealand, from New Zealand. And, you know,

Nicaragua from many, many places had been coming to bring donations. This is the beauty of our country, all the diaspora is pulling together and helping. Tell me of solidarity, you know. Okay, sorry. No, it's okay. Tell me what kind of donations you're looking for. What kinds of things are you sending to Venezuela? Okay, right now, no anymore.

We collect. at the beginning we were collecting almost everything but now we are asking not to donate any clothing unless they are new and this is from the states it's not our mandate it's not our thing but they are not receiving anything that is used

unless they are shoes Shoes can be used, but only shoes. The rest has to be new. And I have a friend in Waterloo helping me to keep all the boxes with the food that we couldn't bring to Toronto because they closed. They didn't receive anymore because the trucks were already living to the states. my son is with them in Toronto doing all of this but my house was the place where we receive all the donation in this area

so you can imagine how is my house you're doing good work the Canadian government has pledged $5 million in humanitarian assistance to help Venezuela We know that Venezuela has long been having lots of challenges. What else would you like to see from Canadian officials at this point? Well, actually, actually that money, where is going? If they are donating that money to the government of Venezuela,

it's more money for their pockets. Okay? I didn't plan to talk about politics. It was one of my request, not to talk about politics. but I'm sorry, I have to say it. If the Canadian government is sending money to Venezuela, it will be for the pockets of the government people, okay? They are no helping anybody.

They are taking this advantage of this, what is going on right now, and there are many, many boats. big boats living the coast of Venezuela with drugs. Okay? While we're doing this, the government is doing that. And I'm really sad that Canada is sending money to the government. Really sad because that is not helping. And so what is your message to ordinary Canadians?

many people are, you know, wanting to help in any way that they can. And given what you said, it is hard to talk about Venezuela without talking about politics, given its long history and things that have happened even earlier this year. But for regular Canadians, what do you want to say to them? How might they be able to help? Well, we have been doing everything in our hands to collect even money. but here to send it through organization that we believe in, like we trust them,

and that money goes directly to the people who are buying anything they need right now. Like, you know, your correspondent, correspondents, yes. she was saying that they are taking money from their own pockets to buy supplies for people, food and everything. That's what we are trying to do. And we have family there that they are receiving the money from us, directly from us. And they go and buy food and they make food and they bring food made. You know, like for them to eat right away.

People who are helping, people who have been rescued and they're hungry. And, you know, and for them to buy any supplies for medical things is impossible. So we are trying to collect mostly the medical supplies, anything that can help. anything that can help them because in Venezuela the hospitals doesn't have even a gas nothing

nothing they have nothing Fannie I know that this is a difficult time for you in the Venezuelan diaspora here in Canada and so many people appreciate the good work that you have been doing to try and help thank you very much for joining us Oh you're welcome

Thank you for doing this Fannie Vaya de Kroze is a Venezuelan Canadian, and we reached her in Kitchener, Ontario. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.