Weekly Report - 02 July 2026 (WR-26-26)

With the death toll climbing steeply in the wake of the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on 24 June, attention is shifting towards the long-term ramifications for a country that until last week was beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Lacking a democratic mandate, President Delcy Rodríguez has been accused of seeking to obscure the true scale of the crisis, by imposing restrictions on entry into the worst-affected state, La Guaira. The authorities are determined not to give their critics an opening, and allegedly closed Venezuelan airspace to block opposition leader María Corina Machado from returning on 29 June. Meanwhile, the economic impact has been estimated at over 6% of GDP, adding to the urgency of imminent debt restructuring talks and raising the question of how far Washington will go to support its new ally.