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The Chargé d'Affaires of the United States Embassy in Venezuela, John Barrett, visited the emergency mobile hospital set up by the organization Samaritan's Purse in La Guaira on Wednesday and described what he saw as an operation that is saving lives in the area most affected by the earthquakes of June 24.
"Today I witnessed firsthand how lives are being saved in La Guaira," wrote Barrett on the official account of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, where he signed the message with his initials "JB".
Barrett toured the facilities alongside Erin Magee, leader of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).
The mobile hospital, located near the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, has the capacity to care for over 100 patients daily and is equipped with operating rooms, an intensive care unit, and laboratories.
The visit comes a week after two consecutive earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 — the strongest recorded in Venezuela since 1900 — devastated the coastal state of La Guaira on June 24.
The José María Vargas Hospital was destroyed, over 250 buildings collapsed, and the Maiquetía airport suffered severe structural damage.
The Venezuelan government reports 2,295 deceased and more than 11,000 injured, while the UN estimates that over 50,000 people remain under the rubble and that the total number of affected individuals exceeds 6.7 million.
Barrett described the U.S. response as "swift, large-scale, and unprecedented," coordinated by the State Department alongside non-governmental organizations present in the country.
"Under the leadership of the president and Secretary Rubio, the U.S. is responding with massive and immediate assistance," the diplomat added.
Washington increased its financial commitment to over 300 million dollars, after announcing an initial allocation of 150 million on June 25.
The funds are channeled through organizations such as Samaritan's Purse, Catholic Relief Services, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the Red Cross, in addition to 100 million allocated to the UN emergency fund (OCHA).
The Southern Command deployed C-17 and C-130 planes, Osprey and Chinook helicopters, as well as the USS Fort Lauderdale and USS Billings ships.
More than 300 elite rescuers and 23 tracking dogs are operating in the affected area. The U.S. also temporarily suspended sanctions until October 23 to facilitate financial transactions related to relief efforts.
La catástrofe ocurre en un momento diplomático singular: la Embajada estadounidense en Caracas fue reabierta el 30 de marzo de 2026, tras permanecer cerrada desde 2019, y Barrett asumió su cargo apenas el 23 de abril, en el marco de un proceso de normalización gradual de relaciones impulsado por la administración Trump.
The humanitarian response to the earthquake has become a central axis of this new bilateral relationship, with the Venezuelan government officially accepting assistance from Washington.
Among the documented tragedies in La Guaira is that of a Cuban family of six found dead under the rubble on June 29; at least 32 Cubans remain missing in the area.
"A key objective is to provide medical attention and urgent relief to those who need it most at this critical moment," concluded Barrett, in what marks the first public visit by a senior U.S. diplomat to the disaster areas since the onset of the emergency.
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