A bloodless statement about some loose change in an international aid fund is the only thing Norway’s government has managed to cough up following the earthquake disaster in Venezuela.

This while governments that Espen Barth Eide and Åsmund Aukrust most certainly do not like being compared with are dispatching aircraft after aircraft loaded with construction machinery, military medical personnel and pallets of emergency aid.

From San Salvador towards the northern coast of Venezuela, President Nayib Bukele and the government of El Salvador are flying chartered jumbo jets bound for Venezuela. Mini-excavators are being hoisted aboard one after another. Pallets of equipment and military medical personnel stand in formation inside the hangar.

Salvadoran soldiers are already in action in La Guaira, Venezuela, breaking their way through collapsed concrete walls to pull out survivors.

Six fully loaded aircraft have arrived in less than 35 hours.

There are at least 300 ruins of what were once apartment blocks; every minute counts.

Out in the street, helpless relatives sit listening to children crying beneath the piles of concrete, until they cry no more.

“Send machinery, send the military,” they plead through tears.

Barth Eide, Aukrust and Tore O. Sandvik could have made the Norwegian Armed Forces’ four transport aircraft available and chartered several SAS aircraft in addition to fly in soldiers, volunteers, field hospitals, clothing, blankets, camping stoves, emergency food supplies and tents for the many tens of thousands of Venezuelans who are now living outdoors with no possibility of returning to their homes.

But no. That would have required decisiveness and organisational talent.

Instead, the talkers boast that they have paid money into some funds. Blah blah blah.

Concrete action, on the other hand, that does not consist of buying international positions through financial transfers, appears to hold no interest.

Meanwhile, the frequently criticised President Bukele takes command; the man we are constantly told is responsible for every conceivable kind of human rights violation. A million reports authored by frothing academics affiliated with humanitarian organisations around the world have told us how evil this man is.

Just over two hours after the disaster struck, the demonised, but not demoralised, leader announced that he was sending 300 soldiers.

By Thursday, four out of a total of six aircraft had departed. The remaining two were airborne yesterday, Friday.

During the night leading into Saturday, the president reports that his crews had worked for seven hours to rescue an injured 39-year-old woman, Nayarit Colmenare, who had lived on the sixth floor of a building in La Guaira that was levelled by the earthquakes.

Someone has to do God’s work.

– Si Dios lo permite. These are words Bukele often uses. If God permits it.

“You are giving us more information than Venezuelan television,” one user writes on X.

– Que Dios los guíe y los proteja, is the President’s greeting to the rescue crews arriving in Venezuela. May God guide them and protect them.

Minutes later, Nayarit Colmenare is rescued.

– Dios, permite que podamos salvarle la vida (God, let us succeed in saving her life), Bukele writes.

Two Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft from the Turkish Air Force flew to Venezuela on Friday, 26 June, carrying Civil Defence rescue teams, several specialised vehicles, supplies and canine search units. (Photo: Turkish Civil Defence/X)

Someone actually has to help, and as usual it was not Barth Eide.

• Colombia has flown in 60 rescue personnel and 12 tonnes of emergency aid.
• Two Indian C-17 Globemaster aircraft took off yesterday morning for Venezuela, carrying 41 rescue personnel, a medical response unit, two field hospitals with an accompanying military medical detachment, 30 tonnes of emergency relief equipment and 6 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies.
• Brazil is delivering a field hospital with accompanying medical personnel and surgical equipment and has flown in fire and rescue personnel together with telecommunications specialists. During the weekend, 100 solar-powered water purification units are to be delivered.
• Turkey has dispatched two military transport aircraft carrying search-and-rescue teams, search dogs, vehicles and military medical personnel.
• Ecuador has sent at least one Hercules aircraft carrying 47 firefighters and rescue personnel from the USAR ECU-01 unit from the capital Quito, together with 6 tonnes of equipment, drones and other technology.
• The EU is flying in 520 relief personnel.
• Spain has flown in 57 military rescue personnel and 40 members of fire brigades from several cities. Spain’s Ministry of Development is to establish a field hospital.
• Mexico flew in military medical personnel and rescue teams, dogs, drones and medical equipment on Thursday.
• Italy has sent an advance team to Venezuela to prepare for firefighters and rescue personnel being mobilised from the Ministry of Defence and the Air Force.
• The United States has sent personnel from Virginia and California aboard U.S. Air Force transport aircraft. The military command SOUTHCOM is deploying additional warships, aircraft and helicopters.
• The United Kingdom has sent a team of 68 rescue personnel and six dogs, a Royal Air Force aircraft and drones.
• Panama, France, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Germany have also contributed personnel and equipment.

***

“Now we see that Norwegian money is helping people in Venezuela,” says Development Minister Aukrust in the humanitarian superpower’s press release.

That money will not rescue a single 18-day-old baby alive from beneath the piles of concrete.

Also read:

36,000 reported missing on new Venezuela earthquake platform

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