Venezuelan earthquakes test Trump’s new western hemisphere policy after gutting of USAID

This week’s dual earthquakes in Venezuela are a test for the new era of American power in the western hemisphere, as the Trump administration scrambles to provide an effective disaster response mission to a country that it now calls an ally in Latin America, after a US special forces raid in January deposed the country’s strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro. The US is marshalling what secretary of state Marco Rubio called a “big, fast, effective” and “whole-of-government” response as the state department sent three specialised urban search and rescue teams and pledged a $150m assistance fund that one former disaster relief expert called the largest he had seen within 24 hours of an incident. The disaster assistance response team (DART) deployed to Venezuela includes more than 250 people, the state department said in a statement. This is a high-stakes mission for the US. The Trump White House has gutted the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and put disaster assistance under the state department, laying off thousands of aid workers in the process. And Trump earlier this year had Maduro snatched in a special forces operation and brought to the US to face narco-terrorism conspiracy and other federal charges. His successor, Delcy Rodríguez , has been far more amenable to the US. …