Nicolás Maduro spent years calling America the enemy of his people.
Now his replacement just publicly thanked Donald Trump on behalf of the entire country.
And the warships Trump sent made sure she meant it.
The Worst Earthquake Venezuela Has Seen in 60 Years
Two earthquakes hit northern Venezuela on Wednesday night – 39 seconds apart.
The first measured 7.2 magnitude.
Before the shaking stopped, a second struck at 7.5.
https://twitter.com/DailyMail/status/2070541435892293789?s=20
Scientists are calling it a "doublet" – a rare event where the first quake doesn't just cause an aftershock but triggers a full second rupture on a nearby fault.
The last time Venezuela saw anything close to this was 1967 – and that one killed around 240 people and flattened high-rise apartment buildings in Caracas.
This one is already worse.
The death toll has climbed to at least 589 with more than 2,900 injured.
Simón Bolívar International Airport took direct damage and shut down.
La Guaira state – the coastal region just north of Caracas – is a disaster zone.
Rescue workers are racing a 48-hour clock to pull survivors from the rubble before survival rates collapse.
Trump Moved Faster Than Anyone Expected
Within hours of the quakes, Trump posted on Truth Social calling Venezuelans "our new and great friends" and instructed every federal agency to prepare to move.
By Thursday, the State Department announced $150 million in total aid.
Fifty million goes directly to organizations already on the ground – Samaritan's Purse, Catholic Relief Services, and World Vision.
The other $100 million flows through a UN humanitarian pooled fund for Venezuela.
Urban search-and-rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia and Los Angeles County, California are wheels up and heading in.
U.S. Southern Command didn't just send a check.
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2069993600432136695?s=20
SOUTHCOM deployed the USS Fort Lauderdale – an amphibious transport ship now functioning as a floating command center, equipped with a flight deck for heavy-lift helicopters and a hull-mounted well deck for launching landing craft directly to devastated shorelines.
Alongside it, the littoral combat ship USS Billings is running close-in operations where larger vessels can't reach.
C-17 Globemasters and C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft are already in the air.
Rubio said it plainly from Bahrain: "It'll be big, it'll be fast, and it'll be effective."
This Is What Happens When You Arrest a Dictator Instead of Negotiate With Him
Six months ago Trump authorized the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Operation Absolute Resolve pulled off something no administration had attempted – seizing a sitting foreign leader who had turned his country into a narco-state and driven millions of migrants toward America's southern border.
Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez – who took over after Maduro's capture – didn't hesitate Thursday.
She publicly thanked Trump and his administration for their "constant contact" and "support and solidarity" since the quakes hit.
https://twitter.com/delcyrodriguezv/status/2070027304848302187?s=20
"Venezuela will never forget the helping hand extended to our people during these difficult times," she said.
That sentence could not have been uttered under Maduro.
The entire diplomatic framework that makes this response possible – American warships welcomed into Venezuelan waters, rescue teams landing without political obstruction, a government that picks up the phone when Rubio calls – exists because Trump did what every previous administration refused to do.
Biden spent four years coddling Maduro's regime, lifting sanctions and negotiating "democracy deals" that went nowhere while Venezuelans starved and fled by the millions.
Trump removed the problem, and now a Venezuelan government is publicly crediting him for it.
Sources:
- Alexandra Koch, "Trump Administration Pledges $150M in Aid, Deploys Navy Warships After Deadly Venezuela Earthquakes," Fox News, June 25, 2026.
- "Amphib USS Fort Lauderdale, LCS USS Billings Headed to Venezuela," USNI News, June 26, 2026.
- "Trump Launches Massive Aid Operation and Commits $150 Million for Venezuela After Earthquakes," Cuba Headlines, June 25, 2026.
- "Trump Pledges Rapid U.S. Response for Venezuela After Historic Earthquakes," The Hill, June 25, 2026.
- "Why Venezuelan Earthquakes Could Be the Most Devastating in the Country in Modern History," ABC News, June 25, 2026.
