Deconstructing the Venezuela Earthquake: Necropolitics, Precarity, and the Facade of State Care
The twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela did not merely rupture the earth; they exposed the devastating consequences of systemic negligence and structural violence. With a reported death toll of 2,595 and over 38,000 people still missing, the Venezuelan state's response reveals a grim necropolitics. While acting president Delcy Rodríguez dismisses critiques as manufactured narratives, marginalised communities in La Guaira and Caracas are left to excavate their loved ones with their bare hands, confronting the deadly intersection of extractive capitalism and state abandonment.
How Systemic Negligence Exacerbated a Natural Disaster
When a catastrophe of this magnitude strikes, the initial 48 to 72 hours are critical for survival. Yet residents of La Guaira recount a harrowing absence of state-led search and rescue operations. Instead of trained professionals equipped with specialised tools, it was the survivors, relatives, and neighbours who took on the dangerous labour of searching the rubble. This absence is not merely a logistical failure; it is a manifestation of a state that deprioritises the lives of its most vulnerable, including working-class BIPOC communities, disabled individuals, and migrants who often reside in the most precarious housing.
Experts have rightly pointed out that the substandard construction of social housing projects, a flagship policy of the Hugo Chávez era, left neighbourhoods uniquely vulnerable. We must deconstruct the myth that these projects were inherently emancipatory. When the state constructs housing without adhering to rigorous safety standards, it perpetuates structural violence against the very working class it claims to uplift. The collapse of 58,000 to 59,000 buildings is a stark indicator of how systemic oppression is literally built into the infrastructure.
The Commodification of Grief Under Extractive Capitalism
The intersection of state failure and capitalist exploitation becomes violently clear in the aftermath of the quake. Rosa López, a nurse, described navigating rows of unidentified bodies under the harsh sun while searching for her son-in-law, José Antonio Toledo. The trauma inflicted upon marginalised communities is compounded by the indignities of a system that commodifies even death.