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A macabre darkness, the glare of spotlights, the droning of generators and jackhammers, and often the stench of decomposing corpses: eight days after the double earthquake in Venezuela, nighttime in La Guaira, once a festive seaside resort, has transformed into a grim scene of survival and despair.The vast majority of the nearly 2,300 dead and thousands missing from the tragedy of June 24 are concentrated on the coast of La Guaira, where entire neighbourhoods have been razed.Nearly 200 buildings have completely collapsed, according to official figures, but local people say the number is higher.Some 15,000 homeless people are sleeping in tents in the streets, sports facilities, parks, vacant lots after one of Latin America’s worst ever earthquake disasters.Everywhere, relatives, volunteers, and rescue workers are racing to recover bodies with the slim chance of finding survivors.But there have been glimmers of hope. Hernan Gil, 43, was astonishingly rescued from the rubble Thursday, eight days after the earthquakes, in Playa Grande, a neighbourhood of Catia La Mar.”Sandwich of slabs” On a neighbouring plot of land, under the glare of floodlights, about 10 people are working to excavate a six-metre-high mountain, the remains of an eight-story building that collapsed “like a sandwich of slabs,” explained Manuel Alejos, a crane operator.”We’re breaking slab by slab to free the bodies… Their families need the bodies to say their goodbyes,” said the crane operator, who has already pulled seven bodies from the building.”We still have the basement to do,” he said, still hoping to find survivors.The stench of corpses filled the air.Angelo Gonzalez, a 27-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, and his friends arrived with water and pasta: “We’re helping our brothers. We all have the same blood.”On the docks, people wait on plastic chairs. A makeshift morgue has been set up to meet the demand.Owuar Herrera and 12 members of his family have been waiting since 5pm. He brought the bodies of his granddaughter, 10-year-old Dasleidy Herrera, and her grandmother, 50-year-old Mildred Moreno, both killed in the earthquakes.”After a week of work, we found them today. They were embracing,” he says.In Caraballeda, the other hardest-hit area, only a pile of rubble remains of the upscale Coral Beach residence.At the top, men were also working with spotlights to recover the body of Dennis Velasquez, 26, the son of their friend.Plastic bottles had been placed over the protruding metal to prevent injuries. The men worked like ants, forming a chain to pass buckets of small concrete blocks.”We went past the penthouse, the 12th floor, and on the 11th we pulled out a family of six with a six-year-old child. On the 10th, there’s my son,” one of the rescuers, Carlos Velazquez, said.”I’ve been here since day one. Even if I have to pull him out with my own fingernails, my son will rest in a proper cemetery,” Velazquez said, his eyes filled with sadness but determination.His son’s body was recovered shortly afterward.Cesar Gonzalez, 54, a Mexican firefighter and veterinarian, gives his two dogs, Zeus and Bom, water: “One is for detecting the living, the other for the dead. The more time passes, the less hope there is. Just two days ago, hope was much greater. Now, it would be a miracle,” he explains.Already looted Police and soldiers are patrolling to prevent looting. Sergeant Yonder Maita, 24, is patrolling to protect rescue workers but especially to prevent theft: “There are people who break into houses to steal. Sometimes they pretend to be relatives. They take advantage of the situation.”On many walls, the words “Already looted” are painted in black.On a soccer field, Maria Arteaga, 33, a mother of four, is preparing to sleep in an improvised shelter made of tarpaulins and a Venezuelan flag.On the floor, dirty mattresses found in the street will serve as sleeping quarters for nine people.”The house… Everything, we’ve lost everything… Except our lives! We’re even barefoot.””We didn’t have much to begin with, but we’ve lost everything,” adds a neighbour, Alexis Ramirez, 25, a tyre repairman.He lives with his two-year-old daughter, Mia, his wife, Fabiola, who is seven months pregnant, and his disabled mother-in-law.Is he afraid of becoming homeless? Of more aftershocks? Of thieves?”We’ve lost our fear.” Related Story Source link
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Wary of being vulnerable to the whims of foreign governments, the European Union is preparing far-reaching new moves to ditch American digital companies and Chinese chips in favour of European alternatives.The EU's technological sovereignty package is among many measures taken by Brussels to slash dependence on foreign firms and boost local manufacturing — but risks opening up a new front in transatlantic tensions.The hotly awaited package of new rules on chips, cloud computing and AI will be presented on Wednesday as part of the EU's effort to ‘reclaim its place in the global race for geoeconomic power’, a draft strategy document seen by AFP said.Of particular concern is how much the European Union relies on US cloud providers, which account for around 70 % of Europe's market.Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, Europeans worry that critical digital infrastructure could be brought to a halt by an American ‘kill switch’ if tensions ever reached fever pitch.Top EU officials don't directly name their target as the US, but American tech dominates, from cloud computing to social media to e-commerce.’We need to develop our own capacities. We cannot allow someone trying to influence our own decisions, our own values, our own well-functioning economy and services,’ EU competition tsar Teresa Ribera said this month.EU officials often point to Washington's sanctions against International Criminal Court judges — imposed by Trump in February 2025 — to illustrate the grip of US firms. Judge Nicolas Guillou has described how he lost access to his Visa card since it is an American system.But US envoy to the EU Andrew Puzder has warned against any protectionist moves, while American companies have urged Europe not to keep them out.’Europe will not be able to pull itself into the AI economy by bringing other people down,’ Puzder told AFP last month when asked about the plans.Wednesday's package will include:— the ‘Cloud and AI Development Act’, aimed at speeding up the deployment of data centre infrastructure— a ‘Chips Act’ proposal to reinforce the security of supply for semi-conductors by reducing dependence on foreign providers— a push for public authorities to use more open-source software solutions as a way to gain greater control and flexibility and avoid being locked in.EU lawmaker Oliver Schenk told AFP the package was ‘not about opposing our trading partners or closing markets’, but said: ‘Europe must avoid becoming structurally dependent on any single external actor’ for AI, cloud and chips.The draft strategy, which could still change before the announcement, said governments would be expected to conduct ‘sovereignty risk assessments’ for cloud and AI to ‘improve resilience’ and spot European alternatives.’Europe must ensure that public investments in AI and cloud infrastructure strengthen European innovation capacity, resilience and security,’ Schenk said.According to a second draft document on chips, the commission wants the power to intervene in the event of a crisis by forcing ‘manufacturers to prioritise orders for crisis-critical products, overriding existing contracts’.It also proposes common purchasing, which means the EU would act as ‘a central buyer for multiple member states facing severe shortages’.Aaron Cooper of tech industry group Business Software Alliance sought to offer reassurances to Europeans who fear any US administration could act to hurt the bloc at times of tension, following past frictions, including over tariffs.’There is no such thing as a kill switch,’ Cooper told AFP, adding companies ‘want to comply with laws wherever they're doing business’.American tech companies have been keen to shift the focus of the debate, insisting Europeans would be in charge of their data while using US services.’Digital sovereignty is about control, not just borders,’ said Ana Paula Assis, chair for IBM Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, adding that the company helps its clients ‘maintain authority over their entire IT estate’.The EU says the package will drive innovation and help Europe catch up with the US and China in the AI race.But Ben Brake, director general of DOT Europe, whose members include Amazon and Apple, said ‘retaliating against US corporations in response to trade disputes will neither drive innovation nor strengthen Europe's competitiveness’. Source link
Photo taken on May 29, 2026 shows Aranka Szavuly, the former vice-chairman of the trade union committee of…
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