Venezuela quakes: How will sanctions impact aid operations?

Venezuela has declared a state of emergency after powerful back-to-back earthquakes collapsed buildings in cities that included the capital, Caracas, killing at least 164 people and wounding close to 1,000.

After the earthquakes on Wednesday, the United States said it was in touch with Venezuelan authorities and was mobilising assistance for the South American nation, which has historically languished under crippling sanctions imposed by Washington.

The economic chokehold was partially lifted after US forces abducted the country’s then-President Nicolas Maduro in a raid in January. The interim government led by Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez has been on stable terms with US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has since sought to re-establish US investment in the country’s oil sector.

Trump was among the first leaders to pledge assistance to Venezuela. “The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform. “We will be there for our new and great friends.”

Rodriguez responded by thanking Trump for “offering support and solidarity to the people of Venezuela in the face of this tragedy that has plunged us into mourning”.

While the partial lifting of sanctions – including on Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro – allows Venezuela to transact more freely with US companies and financial institutions, experts said two concerns dominate discussions about the aid operations.

“On the one hand, that aid will not be able to reach those in need,” said Sarah Schiffling, deputy director of Finland’s HUMLOG Institute, which researches humanitarian logistics and supply chain management at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki.

“On the other, that this disaster will be used by the US to gain more influence in Venezuela.”

Besides the US sanctions, which have targeted specific individuals and groups since 2005, the European Union and United Kingdom have also imposed sanctions on Venezuela since 2017 over what they called political repression and backsliding on democracy under Maduro.

According to the EU, “the measures include an embargo on arms and on equipment for internal repression, and the imposition of travel bans and asset freezes on listed individuals”.

The US lifted sanctions on Rodriquez herself this year, and in April, the US Department of the Treasury announced it would issue new licences to allow transactions with certain Venezuelan banks and individuals.

Rodriguez argued the move was not enough to help Venezuela out of its ongoing economic crisis and pressed for more relief. “We reiterate the need to advance towards a Venezuela free of sanctions, as a means of providing institutional legal certainty to investors coming to our country – a setting where they are guaranteed sustained investment over time and a forward-looking perspective,” Rodriguez wrote on social media at the time.

Schiffling, who lectures on supply chain management at Hanken, said sanctions are known to have secondary effects that limit the flow of humanitarian assistance.

“Financial sanctions can make it difficult for NGOs to send money to the affected country to pay staff or suppliers,” she said. “There can also be additional administrative burdens that slow down the operations and make it more difficult to import goods and bring staff into the country.”

Additionally, aid agencies may be wary of inadvertently falling foul of limitations and consequently halt or slow down deliveries.

“Most importantly, we need to consider the effect sanctions have already had on the Venezuelan domestic market,” Schiffling said.

Sanctions imposed by the US, Canada and the EU on the oil and financial sectors in Venezuela have exacerbated the country’s economic crisis. Nearly eight in 10 Venezuelans live in poverty, according to United Nations figures for 2024, and many people have inadequate access to food and essential medicines.

Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said sanctions have been one of the main factors constraining the government’s capacity to implement social protection programmes and provide basic public services. After a visit to the Latin American country in February 2024, Fakhri noted that the lack of access to affordable food, malnutrition and the deterioration of livelihoods have led to mass emigration from the country.

According to Schiffling, Wednesday’s earthquakes “hit a population that was already in dire need and has little capacity to cope with the additional disruption”. The domestic market for essential items is likely inadequate to meet the country’s needs, making it even more urgent to ship from abroad, she said.

US Department of State official Jeremy Lewin wrote in an X post that Washington is “sending search and rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies and other resources in the crucial first days after this tragic natural disaster” in coordination with the interim Venezuelan government.

Schiffling, however, warned that while humanitarian principles require aid to be impartial, neutral and independent, this is often not the case in practice and the US is likely to try to position itself in such a way that enhances its influence in the country.

Since it attacked Venezuela and abducted Maduro in January, Washington has sought to reap economic advantages by essentially taking control of the oil industry. Trump claimed that while the military operation in Venezuela lasted “exactly 48 minutes”, the US has recovered its costs 28 times over through oil extraction.

While Rodriguez has largely complied with Trump’s ambitions by liberalising Venezuela’s economy and opening it up to greater foreign investment, observers said she had little choice. Trump has pledged to “run” Venezuela, and after Maduro’s abduction, he warned that a second wave of military action could follow if Rodriguez did not comply with his demands.

In response, Venezuela’s acting president signed a bill to facilitate private foreign investment in the oil industry, worth an estimated $8bn, in January. The Trump administration framed this as mutually beneficial, but neither side has yet provided a public accounting of the quantities of oil sold or the revenues collected.

Now, Venezuela’s earthquakes could open the path for more direct US investment to meet immediate needs, such as in drinking water infrastructure, and in long-term reconstruction projects.

Operating in areas with poor security, such as Venezuela, may require aid workers to be escorted by armed groups just to reach people in need. “[This] compromises neutrality as, of course, the organisation can then be seen as being allied with that armed group,” Schiffling said.

“With funding from governments, there is, of course, always the question of whether money is only given for what is furthering a certain political agenda.”