Most of those digging were civilians who took search efforts into their own hands, and tensions peaked over inadequate response from the Venezuelan government, whose soldiers, firefighters, police and military cadets were evidently underprepared to respond to the tragedy.
Frustration was only amplified by state efforts to project the image of a robust state response.
“There’s a pile of bodies over there from last night. Newborn babies. Look what time it is, and they still haven’t come to recover them. At 8 p.m. there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them. We’ve located several bodies, and they haven’t helped us recover them either,” said Mileidy Romero, who was among those searching the rubble in the seaside town of Caraballeada. “What are they waiting for?”
