Eight days after the devastating earthquakes that shook northern Venezuela, Brian, a resident of the La Riviera building in Talla Grande, Catia La Mar, publicly denounced the abandonment by the authorities in El Olivar, La Guaira state, in a testimony shared by the DDHH Vente Venezuela organization.
Brian lost two family members in the tragedy. His grandmother was rescued from the rubble, but she passed away three days after the earthquake due to a heart attack brought on by stress. His uncle remained buried under the ruins of the Flayaté building for eight days; his body was found on Thursday thanks to the efforts of neighbors and volunteers, without any involvement from official authorities.
"Basically, it has been resolved among neighbors, because no police or government entity has come to help us," Brian recounted in the video.
The most compelling testimony points directly to the security forces deployed in the area: "Here you see police and military, but none of them is doing anything at all. They are all taking pictures to upload to social media, pretending that they are working."
According to Brian, the only rescuers who actually operated in the area were international teams. "International rescuers came; they were the only ones who actually came through here, countries like El Salvador, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain," he noted, specifying that they arrived three to four days after the earthquake.
The whistleblower also warned about the danger that neighbors face when trying to recover bodies without equipment or training: "In the end, we are just people without knowledge, trying to help, and we are putting our lives at risk in a situation we do not fully understand, and ultimately, as victims of this, we are also exposing ourselves to an even greater tragedy."
The family demands the presence of specialized teams and heavy machinery. "What is needed is more qualified personnel willing to help and more machinery as well to be able to do it," Brian concluded.
Brian's case is not an isolated one. Mary Lourdes Pérez, who lost her two children and her mother after the earthquakes, also reported that official assistance arrived too late and was insufficient in Caraballeda. In Catia La Mar, 158 out of 189 buildings in the area were affected or destroyed.
The Venezuelan regime also restricted access to the state of La Guaira starting at 8:00 PM on June 27, forcing volunteers to register at the Poliedro de Caracas to obtain credentials, which further complicated the arrival of aid to the most affected areas.
The earthquakes of June 24, 2026 —two consecutive quakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, occurring just 39 seconds apart— are the strongest recorded in Venezuela since 1900, according to the United States Geological Survey. The official count as of July 1 reported 2,295 dead and 11,267 injured, while the UN estimates that up to 50,000 people may be missing and that 6.76 million have been affected.
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