Venezuela Deploys Nationwide Task Force After Heavy Rains Cut Off Thousands and Damage Road Infrastructure

Mexico City, Mexico, June 27, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s government launched a large-scale emergency response after heavy rains caused severe flooding and landslides across the states of Mérida, Trujillo, Barinas, Portuguesa and Táchira. 

President Nicolás Maduro announced Wednesday the activation of a task force to respond to the fallout from the rains in the west of the country. The coordinated operation involves the armed forces, regional governments, and community organizations, including communes and communal circuits.

“The entire government team—national, regional, and municipal—is deployed as a single force, in coordination with the People’s Power, to provide the necessary assistance. The people are not alone!” declared Maduro after announcing the operation.

During a subsequent national broadcast on Thursday, the president provided an update on efforts to attend to those affected, emphasizing the distribution of food, water, and supplies in all the affected states.

According to officials, the damages have cut off 8,456 families, with a further 8,826 affected by damage to road infrastructure. Maduro also mentioned that of the 25 collapsed bridges in the Andean region, 16 were completely destroyed and the rest partially damaged; he also reported that 370 homes were affected with about a third having been totally destroyed.

Maduro called on all communal councils, communes, and communal circuits to assist in verifying the risk of collapse of homes damaged by the heavy rains.

In Trujillo, Governor Gerardo Márquez reported landslides in the municipalities of Boconó and Campo Elías, but said the situation remains under control. In Mérida, officials reported power outages, river overflows, and evacuations in several towns.

Local sources told Venezuelanalysis that recent heavy snowing, coupled with years of intensive agricultural practices, deprived soils of their water-retention properties.

The intense rainfall likewise forced authorities to open dam floodgates. A river that burst its banks in Portuguesa state led to the collapse of a highway overpass.

Transport Minister Ramón Velásquez said crews equipped with heavy machinery have been deployed to clear blocked roads and repair damaged infrastructure once conditions allow. Authorities also put to use 124 vehicles donated by China.

“President Xi Jinping and the People’s Republic of China have made a timely and significant donation to Venezuela, consisting of a set of machinery that was unloaded in the country just days ago,” said Maduro.

The Venezuelan leader went on to order a study on the impact of climate change on the country’s bodies of water to anticipate potential effects, before pinning the blame on capitalism.

“Climate change is generating temperatures far above what planet Earth experienced for millennia. There has been a shift, because capitalism destroyed the planet’s ecological balance,” said Maduro.

Authorities say efforts are now aimed at restoring access to affected areas, delivering aid, and preventing further damage. No deaths have been confirmed.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.