<\/p>\n
Chilean rescue workers carry Hern\u00e1n Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara<\/p>\n
Rescue workers attend to Hern\u00e1n Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, July 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara<\/p>\n
Vietnamese rescuers searches a building that collapsed during back-to-back earthquakes in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara<\/p>\n
Rescuers from Argentina search a building damaged by back-to-back earthquakes after residents reported hearing noises from beneath the rubble in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara<\/p>\n
Lieutenant-Colonel Vianney Labbe, left, head of the detachment of the French 7th Civil Security Training and Intervention Regiment (RIISC 7), Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, center, Oliver Blanco, Venezuela’s Vice Minister for Europe and North America, and French ambassador to Venezuela Emmanuel Pineda, right, visit a temporary camp of the French Civil Security in La Guaira, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, following the June 24 earthquakes. (Miguel Medina\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n
Miguel Medina\/Miguel Medina\/Pool AFP via AP<\/p>\n
CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 Black smoke from fires in flattened buildings and the smell of decomposing bodies spread across ruins Thursday, eight days after Venezuela\u2019s devastating earthquakes, while rescue teams pulled on a thread of hope that they might still find survivors trapped beneath the rubble.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As officials carried body bags and stacked caskets in the port city of Catia La Mar, joy briefly broke through the pervading misery that has blanketed Venezuela’s northern La Guaira on Thursday morning when rescue teams pulled a 43-year-old man out of the rubble he was buried under for nearly eight days.<\/p>\n
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Rescuers from across the Americas had worked for about 100 hours to pull Hern\u00e1n Alberto Gil Flores from the collapsed shopping mall under which he was buried. Trapped in an air pocket, he’d survived on the water and sustenance rescuers passed him through the rubble. He was pulled out of the ruins on a stretcher and was carried to an ambulance as throngs of people cheered in a rare moment of victory.<\/p>\n
Thousands more did not make it that far.<\/p>\n
Venezuela’s government said as of Wednesday that at least 2,295 were killed and more than 11,000 were wounded. Thousands more were sleeping in crowded shelters or outside, or remained missing as family members searched the rubble. The aftermath has left medics worried that the fallout could pave the way for a widening medical crisis of untreated injuries and infectious diseases in a healthcare system already on the brink.<\/p>\n
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U.S. support of a government under fire<\/p>\n
Acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez continued to face mounting criticisms by Venezuelans over the government’s inadequate handling of the earthquakes \u2014 civilian and international rescue efforts have far overshadowed the Venezuelan government response.<\/p>\n
The criticism came just a day before the extension of Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s 180-day mandate as acting leader was set to expire. Rodr\u00edguez served as deputy to former President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro until he was ousted by the United States in January and she became interim leader with the backing of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
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With little transparency by Venezuelan officials, it was unclear what would happen once the deadline passes Thursday.<\/p>\n
Under Venezuela\u2019s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president \u2014 which was Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s former role \u2014 for up to 90 days. These interim appointments can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.<\/p>\n
The Venezuelan leader has strong support from lawmakers and the Trump administration. The National Assembly, controlled by Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.<\/p>\n
The U.S. continued to throw support behind her government Wednesday in the face of criticism, and officials said there were 900 military personnel currently on the ground to support relief and rescue operations.<\/p>\n
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John M. Barrett, the U.S. charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires to Venezuela, pushed back against accusations that Rodr\u00edguez was politicizing response efforts.<\/p>\n
During a call with reporters, Barrett said the U.S. response \u201cdoes require a high level of coordination with local authorities to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what I can say with confidence is that the local authorities have fully complied with our requests and have accelerated this massive humanitarian response,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n
Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, added during the call that \u201cdecades of poor investment in the people of Venezuela\u201d had \u201cmade this even more challenging for the current government.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt is a big problem for any leader to deal with a challenge of this magnitude,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n
Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalist Ben Finley contributed to this report from Washington D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chilean rescue workers carry Hern\u00e1n Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[145,127483,127484,41138,23681,59373,59371,87361,61262,82,84,83,23159,127482],"class_list":["post-358798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-donald-trump","tag-francis-donovan","tag-john-m-barrett","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32501-ap-online-latin-america-and-caribbean-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-venezuela","tag-venezuela-earthquake-rescue-delcy-rodriguez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}