Venezuela Earthquake – The US Controls Venezuela’s Oil Money But Won’t Lift Sanctions Even As Nearly 2,000 Die

By Staff Reporter | NewsAmericasNow.com

News Americas, CARACAS/MIAMI, Weds. July 1, 2026: Nearly 2,000 people are dead in the Venezuela earthquake. More than 10,000 are injured. Over 15,000 families have been displaced. A three-year-old child was pulled alive from the rubble six days after Venezuela’s worst earthquake in more than a century struck the coastal state of La Guaira on June 24. And as the world mobilizes to help – from South Florida non-profit organizations to Major League Baseball – the Trump administration continues to retain full control of an estimated $8 billion in Venezuelan oil revenue, while offering only a time-limited sanctions waiver for earthquake relief transactions rather than the broader relief that advocates say the crisis demands.

South Florida Leads The Relief Effort

Rescue workers in search of survivors in destroyed buildings following the June 24 earthquakes in Los Corales, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. The death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week rose to nearly 2,000, as aftershocks eased in both frequency and intensity and authorities expanded recovery efforts. Photographer: Bloomberg

The humanitarian response to Venezuela’s earthquake disaster has a distinctly South Florida address. Global Empowerment Mission – GEM – headquartered at 1850 NW 84th Avenue in Doral, Florida, has committed an unprecedented $35 million in emergency aid, bolstered by corporate sponsorships and US government backing. Working in partnership with the State Department and Walmart, GEM is flying multiple cargo planes carrying essential supplies to Caracas daily, running donation collection points across greater Miami, and coordinating with municipalities, faith-based organizations, and Venezuelan diaspora groups on the ground.

The US Department of State has committed over $300 million in total humanitarian aid – distributed through partners including Samaritan’s Purse, Catholic Relief Services, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the Red Cross, and GEM itself. The Miami Marlins donated $100,000 to GEM’s relief efforts.

The US military has deployed four urban search-and-rescue teams totaling more than 300 first responders and 23 search canines — from Fairfax County, Los Angeles County, Miami-Dade County, and the City of Miami – working around the clock in the hardest-hit areas. The USS Fort Lauderdale has been positioned off the coast of La Guaira, with sailors and Marines delivering supplies directly to affected coastal communities by landing and amphibious craft.

South Florida residents can donate directly at GEM’s warehouse at 1850 NW 84th Ave, Suite 100, Doral, Florida 33126, or through the organization’s website.

The Atlanta Braves Step Up

Major League Baseball has also joined the relief effort. The Atlanta Braves Foundation launched a fundraising campaign running until July 12, citing the team’s Venezuelan players and coach Eddie Pérez. Fans can support the campaign by purchasing autographed photos of Venezuelan players – priced between $50 and $150 – or bidding on an original artwork by Atlanta artist John Hill depicting Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., who also autographed the piece. All proceeds support relief organizations including GEM.

Donations can be made at mlb.com/braves/community/relief.

The UN On The Ground

A resident reads flyers for missing people following the June 24 earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. The death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week rose to nearly 2,000, as aftershocks eased in both frequency and intensity and authorities expanded recovery efforts. Photographer: Bloomberg

The United Nations has mobilized across multiple agencies. UNICEF has flown in enough supplies for 100,000 people for three months – including emergency health kits, water purification supplies, tents, and newborn care supplies — facilitated through the EU’s logistics hub in Copenhagen. UNHCR is providing shelter support. OCHA is coordinating dozens of international rescue teams. More than 600 aftershocks have been recorded since the original earthquakes struck.

In a moment that captured global attention, rescuers pulled a three-year-old child alive from under the rubble in La Guaira six days after the disaster – one of 6,400 people rescued so far.

UNICEF estimates that 680,000 children need humanitarian assistance across the six affected states, and is calling for $52 million in emergency funding to respond – noting that its wider 2026 Venezuela humanitarian appeal was only 35 percent funded before the earthquakes struck.

“Every life matters,” the UN’s OCHA said, as national and international search and rescue teams continued their work in La Guaira.

The Sanctions Question

For all the generosity flowing from South Florida, Major League Baseball, and the United Nations – a harder question hangs over the relief effort.

The Trump administration has not offered any relief from its widespread economic sanctions on Venezuela, issuing only a time-limited license allowing earthquake relief-related transactions. The White House retains full control over Venezuelan oil export revenues – estimated at $8 billion in the first four months of US control – with the timing and amounts of any disbursements left entirely at US officials’ discretion.

US sanctions on Venezuela are a sweeping set of economic and financial restrictions first imposed in 2015 and significantly expanded in 2019 under Executive Order 13850. They include a near-total embargo on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, asset freezes on the Central Bank, and travel and financial restrictions on key officials.

Following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued several temporary licenses loosening some restrictions — including banking access for major Venezuelan state banks and a four-month authorization for earthquake relief transactions. The US has also shown willingness to work with Venezuela’s interim government on opening the country’s oil and mining sectors to foreign investment.

However the underlying sanctions architecture remains firmly in place. US persons are broadly prohibited from financial transactions with the Venezuelan government. Seizures of vessels transporting unsanctioned Venezuelan oil continue. And organizations like Tren de Aragua, which the FBI said it arrested hundreds today, remain designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, triggering broad financial and immigration restrictions.

The earthquake relief license is temporary. The sanctions are not.

As NewsAmericasNow.com reported Monday, neither the balance in the US Treasury accounts holding Venezuelan oil revenue nor the written agreements governing that system have been publicly disclosed. Trading companies with histories of bribery – Trafigura and Vitol – remain involved in the oil sales. And Congress, which has formally requested an independent audit of the system, has yet to receive a public accounting.

For the Venezuelan families sleeping outside amid 600+ aftershocks, waiting for aid to reach them – the gap between the $300 million in announced humanitarian assistance and the $8 billion in oil revenue controlled by Washington raises a question that has not been answered: what is the money for, if not this?