Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Climbs as La Guaira Declared a Disaster Zone, U.S. Aid Deploys

Since the twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck northwest Venezuela on the evening of June 24, the confirmed death toll has held at 32 dead and more than 700 injured, with acting President Delcy Rodriguez warning early Thursday that both figures are expected to climb as rescue teams reach areas still cut off from emergency services.

La Guaira Takes the Worst of It

Rodriguez identified La Guaira, Venezuela's northern coastal state, as the hardest-hit region, declaring it a disaster zone. "Dozens of buildings have collapsed and we are engaged in the arduous task of rescuing the lives that God allows us to save," she said in an address to the nation, according to CBS News.

In Falcón state, Gov. Víctor Clark reported 32 people hospitalized and, more than four hours after the initial quake, 15 people still trapped in rubble, per CBS News. Those figures were current as of late Wednesday and have not been updated in the sources available as of June 25.

Simón Bolívar International Airport, Venezuela's largest, suffered a partial ceiling collapse caught on video by former National Assembly deputy Wilmer Azuaje, who was inside the terminal when the shaking started. The New York Post published Azuaje's footage, which showed panels and bricks falling onto the concourse as travelers fled. Rodriguez confirmed the airport has been closed. Schools across the country are canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education announced some school buildings will serve as shelters and donation centers.

U.S. Goes from Words to Action

On Thursday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on social media that, at President Trump's direction, the U.S. is deploying search teams, medical resources, and humanitarian aid to Venezuela. A State Department official told CBS News that Rubio spoke directly with Rodriguez and offered full U.S. assistance, and that those efforts are already underway as of June 25.

Jeremy P. Lewin, the U.S. undersecretary of state for foreign assistance, said the State Department had mobilized a disaster assistance team and a task force to coordinate the response with the interim Venezuelan government, according to CBS News.

Trump posted on Truth Social that the earthquakes "have left a devastating number of deaths" and that the U.S. "stands ready, willing, and able to help."

Nine other governments—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, and Uruguay—have also offered assistance, per CBS News.

Breitbart's account of the event, which appears to have been published before the full death count was confirmed, cited Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello rather than Rodriguez as the primary government voice, and did not include the U.S. aid deployment or the airport closure. Those are material developments and Breitbart's early-coverage framing does not reflect the situation as it stood by Thursday morning.

The Complicating Factor: Who Is Governing Venezuela?

The strongest complicating concern here is a legitimate one. Critics of engaging the Maduro government, or any faction claiming power in Caracas, have long argued that humanitarian aid delivered through Venezuelan government channels rarely reaches the people who need it. The country's political situation remains contested: the sources refer to Rodriguez as "acting president," and the U.S. State Department is specifically coordinating with what CBS News calls "the interim Venezuelan government," suggesting Washington is routing aid around, or at least carefully through, the existing power structure.

Venezuela's government has previously blocked or diverted international aid, most visibly during the 2019 standoff when Maduro-aligned forces physically stopped aid trucks at the Colombian border. Anyone asking whether this aid will actually reach earthquake survivors is asking a reasonable question.

What the sources establish is that the U.S. is deploying its own search-and-rescue teams alongside medical resources, not just cutting a check to Caracas. Direct deployment of American personnel and supplies is structurally harder to divert than cash transfers. Whether ground conditions allow those teams full operational access remains an open question that none of the current sources answer.

Scale in Context

The earthquakes are among the strongest to hit Venezuela in over a century, according to both CBS News and Breitbart. Tremors were felt as far as Brazil's Amazon region, roughly 1,050 miles from Caracas, per CBS News. The two epicenters were located about three miles apart near the town of Yumare, outside San Felipe, approximately 100 miles west of Caracas.

The critical unanswered question as of June 25 is whether rescue teams have been able to reach the most isolated damaged areas, particularly in La Guaira state. Rodriguez's own statement that the toll is "expected to rise" reflects that rescuers are still working through collapsed structures where survivors may remain. How many of those 15-plus people reported trapped in Falcón state on Wednesday night have since been recovered, alive or dead, has not been confirmed in any source available at the time of publication.