The severe situation in Venezuela has been exacerbated by recent seismic activity, plunging the population into a state of exhaustion and desperation. A Venezuelan resident, who moved to La Palma in 2018, directly experienced the effects of the earthquakes in the state of Guárico, an event he described as "terrible seconds" during which everything shook and cracks appeared.
This individual, who prefers not to be fully named but whose account has gained attention, has expressed the profound lack of aid and the paralysis of essential services. "The country is abandoned," he laments, noting that the current reality is far removed from what he left behind when he emigrated to the Canary Islands, and criticizes the corruption that, in his view, has plagued the nation for decades.
“"We are exhausted, without strength... Help is not arriving; we are desperate."
The phrase "We are here with our hands tied, waiting for the world to help us" encapsulates the widespread sentiment of a people crying out for international support. The man, who has since obtained Spanish nationality, traveled to Venezuela on June 21st with his wife and son to visit a relative suffering from a severe, almost irreversible health condition. The double seismic event caught them in El Sombrero, in the state of Guárico.
Currently, basic services such as electricity supply and access to essential goods are extremely precarious. "It is very difficult to go to a store to buy bread, water, some food, medicine," he recounts, adding that hospitals operate under deplorable conditions and that power outages are common in many areas, irrespective of the earthquakes, due to the "national electrical system that has been a mess for years."
Furthermore, obstacles to the arrival of humanitarian aid are being reported. According to the testimony, the government itself is allegedly hindering access to affected areas like La Guaira, preventing international solidarity from reaching victims. "They are not letting people go to help in the collapsed areas," he assures, and criticizes that security forces, instead of assisting, "are putting up more and more hurdles."
The situation is described as "very difficult and disconcerting," with widespread disorganization and a feeling that external aid is more effective than internal efforts. "We are the ones who don't have foreign currency, who don't have money in our pockets to buy the basics. Those of us are screwed," he concludes, hoping the international community will not leave them alone.
This resident, who arrived in Spain eight years ago with his family and settled in La Palma, where his wife worked cleaning houses and he has held jobs as a gardener and at gas stations, plans to return to the island on July 11th if current communications allow.
