Acting president defends Venezuela quake response

As her mandate is set to expire, Delcy Rodríguez speaks out 8 days after tragedy.

- REGINA GARCIA CANO AND ISABEL DEBRE

MATIAS DELACROIX Associated Press A MAN stands atop the rubble of a building in La Guaira in northern Venezuela.

As public criticism mounted over the pace and efficiency of Venezuela's earthquake response, the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez issued its first public defense of the operation with her 180-day mandate as interim leader expiring on Friday.

The powerful twin quakes struck the northern state of La Guaira on June 24 and killed more than 2,645 people, according to the latest government figures. An additional 12,666 people were injured, and tens of thousands have been reported missing.

Rodríguez, who served as deputy to former President Nicolás Maduro until his January capture by the Trump administration, waited more than an hour after the quakes initially hit before making her first public statement, and held her first news conference on the government response late Thursday-eight days after the quakes.

Search-and-rescue work continues

Relief organizations typically scramble to find survivors in the first three days after a natural disaster, as the passing of time exponentially diminishes hope for finding signs of life.

But exhausted rescuers were still digging across the hard-hit communities of La Guaira on Friday, encouraged by Thursday's rescue of a 43-year-old security guard from a collapsed mall basement after eight days under the rubble.