Imprisoned Former President Nicolás Maduro Issues Statement of Solidarity Following Venezuela Earthquakes

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has issued an official statement extending his solidarity to the Venezuelan population following the devastating double earthquake that struck the country on Wednesday. In a message published on his official Telegram channel on behalf of himself and his wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro, the former leader called for collective resilience, urging citizens to prioritize community care, protect vulnerable populations like children and the elderly, and fully cooperate with active medical and rescue operations.

The public address marks a rare communication from Maduro, who, along with his wife, remains inside a federal detention facility in New York. The couple is currently facing high-profile international drug trafficking and weapons charges after being apprehended from the presidential compound in Caracas by United States forces during an operation in early January this year.

As rescue operations intensify across the country, newly consolidated data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that the primary epicentral zone was located roughly 28 kilometers northwest of Montalbán. This specific geographical positioning has raised industrial concerns, as the region hosts some of Venezuela’s most critical large-scale oil and energy refining infrastructure.

The USGS confirmed that the initial crisis developed when a powerful magnitude 7.1 foreshock jolted the northern coast, followed a mere 40 seconds later by the catastrophic magnitude 7.5 mainshock. While the immense power of the dual tremors prompted automated marine alerts, the US Tsunami Warning Centers officially canceled their initial regional advisory after confirming that there is no active tsunami threat to Caribbean territories, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Accounts coming out of Caracas describe intense panic as residents fled collapsing structures to seek safety in open streets. Speaking to international media, capital resident Amparo Díaz recounted hearing a massive roar emanating from beneath the ground before the walls of her fourth-floor apartment began moving violently.

Díz described throwing herself to the floor to pray while the structural walls cracked around her, completely destroying her kitchen and leaving her living room walls on the verge of total collapse. Like thousands of other displaced residents in Caracas, she chose to spend the night outdoors out of fear that continuous aftershocks would trigger a total structural failure of her damaged residential building.