The earthquakes in Venezuela on June 24 were among the most devastating anywhere in the world. More than 4,800 have been confirmed dead and tens of thousands remain missing, with the death toll continuing to rise. Aid has come from both within the country and around the world, with numerous countries pitching in to help.

The United States has also responded, though unlike others, not in the spirit of friendship and cooperation but by dusting off its "disaster imperialism" playbook. It has sought to take advantage of the tragedy by moving its military into the country for political purposes, almost certainly with the intention to keep it there after the current moment has passed.

To understand the unease across Latin America, let's recall the events that preceded the earthquakes. In January, U.S. forces carried out an attack on Venezuelan soil and kidnapped the country's head of state, an act of extraordinary lawlessness, condemned across the Global South as an extreme violation of sovereignty and the UN Charter. This was the culmination of a campaign of brutal economic sanctions that crippled the economy for years and which has obviously handicapped the state in this current struggle to rescue huge numbers of victims.

Now, the same military that attacked the country is setting up camp there under the pretext of providing aid.

The continent has seen this "disaster imperialism" before. When the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, the U.S. answered with more than 20,000 troops and seized control of the Port-au-Prince airport, at times prioritizing military flights while aid shipments stacked up. What followed the emergency was years of foreign tutelage: Billions worth of international donations were "lost" and billions more were captured by foreign contractors and NGOs who are now nowhere to be seen. The Haitian state was hollowed out, crippling any institutional capacity to respond to the country's problems or even to effectively assert sovereignty over its own territory. Haiti is still living with those consequences: Today it has the highest level of poverty and extreme poverty in the Americas, large areas of the capital city are under the control of organized crime groups, and the U.S. has maintained a permanent intervention on the ground.

In my own country, Bolivia, I have also witnessed these self-interested tactics during times of tragedy. In 2019, devastating forest fires, spilling over from Brazil, destroyed huge areas across the Bolivian Amazon and its basin regions. U.S.-funded groups such as the Human Rights Foundation responded to this tragedy by claiming that the Bolivian Government, then led by President Evo Morales, was responsible, and mobilized disinformation campaigns using liberal narratives about "environmentalism" to provoke regime change efforts and protests. A few months later, in October of that year, the social networks built during the fires were used to carry out the coup against Morales.

These precedents should help us understand the manner in which the U.S. responds to natural disasters and tragedies in their "backyard." We are seeing this pattern play out again in Venezuela now.

Mainstream media coverage in Western countries has been conveniently omitting the context of the years-long economic blockade that has inevitably weakened the state's capacity to respond.

For over a decade, the country lived under one of the most comprehensive sanctions regimes ever constructed. Its oil exports were strangled, its access to international finance severed and billions in state assets were frozen in foreign banks. Revenue that could have funded seismic retrofitting (modification of existing buildings to better resist earth movements), hospital supplies, fire brigades and emergency services was simply confiscated or blockaded.

Venezuela has also been systematically blocked from importing critical industrial parts, heavy machinery, medical equipment and structural steel, among other things that could have served in the current relief efforts. The heroic response from Venezuela's institutions, despite these externally imposed limitations, should be applauded and, indeed, studied. That they have been as effective as they are right now is a credit to the Venezuelan people and authorities.

The alternative is not complicated. Lift the sanctions, immediately and unconditionally. Return the frozen billions so that Venezuela can finance their own reconstruction. Channel aid through the Venezuelan Government and local civil organizations, not through a foreign military command with a declared political agenda.

This shouldn't be a time for political point-scoring or self-interested disaster imperialism tactics. It should be a time for solidarity between peoples. BR

The author is a Bolivian journalist now based in Beijing and formerly a staff writer at teleSUR, Venezuela's public broadcaster 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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