The future looks bleak and dangerous for some Venezuelans amid the dust, debris and death that has engulfed parts of the country hit by two earthquakes, creating one of the worst natural disasters in its history.
Yogelis Rodriguez is sleeping in his car, not running, because the earthquake left deep cracks all over his apartment that no one can live there now. He feared that it would have to be demolished.
“What does the future look like? It's dark,” said Rodriguez, who lives in La Guaira state near Venezuela's Simón Bolivar International Airport, which was also heavily damaged by the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes last Wednesday.
Rodriguez said he was unable to find work in Venezuela's weak economy before the natural disaster struck. Now he has lost his house and has no way to pay for his car repairs.
“We don't know what's going to happen to us,” he said in an interview with CBC News using WhatsApp voice and text messages over a weak cellphone system. “In the place where I live, help has been small, almost nothing because no one comes, no one from the government.
Venezuela is facing a 'complex' time
The fundamental weaknesses in the state of Venezuela – created in the last two decades due to successive political and economic conflicts – were violently exposed by the earthquake, said René Cedillo, a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners.
“The conditions that the country is living in right now are very complex, very complicated, and one does not know – I will not try to predict – what will happen,” Cedillo said in a telephone interview from Caracas, the country's capital.
“In this natural disaster, Venezuela has failed, the country of Venezuela has failed, it is a failed state.”
Cedillo said people close to him have lost a lot – including his ex-partner, his twins, his young children who were being taught math when the earthquake and the roof of the building collapsed. He said at that time there were about 20 children in the building and about 11 children died, including the daughter of his ex-partner. The twin is in the hospital now.
“It is very sad but there are many other cases like this,” he said.
The latest figures from the Venezuelan government put the death toll at around 1,450, the injured at 3,150 and the displaced at 12,771. About 774 buildings have also collapsed, according to statistics.
The pain and shock of the results has also inspired many Venezuelans to do whatever they can to help – whether it's collecting supplies or digging through the rubble with their own hands.
But Cedillo said this has put them in conflict with government authorities. He said most of these happened in the disaster areas of La Guaira, on the coast, in the north of the region that suffered some of the worst effects of the earthquake.
“The arguments are real, and they are called by people automatically,” he said.
The Venezuelan government announced that it was blocking access to disaster areas in La Guaira to allow rescue workers to carry out their work unhindered.
Cedillo said there is evidence that the government authorities prevented a government-level firefighter, driving an official vehicle, from entering the area and arrested two students from Colombia with electricity generators and cables to be used in La Guaira.
There are several videos circulating on social media showing clashes between people and the authorities.
Venezuela 🇻🇪: a citizen volunteer in La Guaira confronted the national guards by standing idly by, while the citizens were left to do all the rescue work.
'There are more guns than shovels here.' pic.twitter.com/T9Tx3mWHxu
-Thomas VLinge
'Where's the army'
While President Delcy Rodriguez visited the sites and made statements – along with his brother, Jorge Rodriguez, who is the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela – the authorities seem to be inactive and, in the case of the Venezuelan military, they are not there to respond to the earthquake, said Cedillo.
“People ask: Where is the army? Where is the army?” he said.
The aftermath of the earthquake has created a volatile political mix that has fueled discontent in Venezuela's government, which now appears to be leaning heavily on the administration of US President Donald Trump to stay in power.
“The disagreement between the people and the government will increase,” said Cedillo.
Zobeida Guzman lives in the Palos Grandes neighborhood of Caracas, one of the worst affected areas of the city by the two earthquakes.
A traditional Chinese medicine healer, Guzman has been working in the apartment he lives in for more than 40 years. Now, concerns about his structure mean he can't go back.
Guzman said the earthquake destroyed an apartment building around the corner from where he lives.
“When they remove the debris, what will the new place be? How will we feel? How will we live on the streets we've lived on all our lives? I don't know. I can't answer that,” he said in a phone interview with CBC News.
Guzman said the current Venezuelan government has not only lost any vestiges of support; it has also lost respect for the people, who believe that it can put the country in a “dangerous” place.
“Because if you don't respect anyone, no one leads and no one believes in you in a situation like this, it creates anxiety, pain, chaos and great damage,” he said.
Thousands of people are still missing after the twin earthquakes in Venezuela. Rescuers are working to find survivors trapped under the rubble, but there are fears the death toll could rise to tens of thousands.
