The deadly earthquakes in Venezuela will test the Trump administration’s disaster relief response after it dismantled USAID.
Wednesday’s earthquakes, described as the “strongest in a century,” have triggered frantic search-and-rescue efforts. President Donald Trump said the US was “ready, willing, and able to help,” reflecting “a degree of diplomatic realignment” between Washington and Caracas, CNBC noted, and “putting to the test Washington’s role as the most influential international partner in the country’s post-Maduro transition,” SCMP wrote.
Venezuela was “the birthplace of US aid abroad,” a Council on Foreign Relations expert noted, and without USAID, which typically led international disaster responses in the past, the world is watching closely whether Washington can effectively deliver life-saving help.