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As Venezuelans in La Guaira continued to pick through the rubble of downed buildings yesterday, a government excavator stood immobile next to a pile of concrete and bent rebar.
There is plenty of work to do nearly a week after two massive earthquakes destroyed much of this coastal city. Heavy machinery is a vital tool in the aftermath, yet when CNN asked the excavator’s operator why it was idle, he said there wasn’t any gasoline to put in it.
Venezuela is home to the world’s largest reported oil reserves, yet in the wake of one of its worst earthquakes in over a century, many of its citizens have been forced to dig their friends and family out of the rubble by hand for want of fuel. Their desperation comes as the Venezuelan government faces mounting criticism over its response to the crisis.
“People are outraged,” said political analyst Carmen Beatriz Fernández, director of the consulting firm DataStrategia. “What we are seeing is this tragedy as a reflection of another tragedy, which was dedicating the state’s capabilities solely to repression and propaganda. You dismantled a state’s capacity to provide basic needs.”
