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“Before the earthquakes struck, Venezuelans were struggling to understand their country’s new semicolonial relationship with the Trump administration,” writes William Neuman in the Review’s September 24, 2026, issue. “The surge of hope following Maduro’s capture dissipated as the rest of his government stayed in place and the cost of food and other necessities climbed ever higher.” Now, after the devastating earthquakes that struck just outside Caracas in late June and left thousands of people dead, a Caraqueña mother of two tells Neuman that “we’re worse off now than when we were worse off before.”

Neuman travels around the north of Venezuela, visiting the capital and the state of La Guaira, and meets with priests, political scientists, cemetery workers, and ordinary citizens digging through the rubble—the government’s relief efforts have come under criticism for focusing on security rather than rescue—to get a sense of life after disaster in the age of Trump.

Below, alongside Neuman’s essay, are five articles from our archives about Venezuela.

William Neuman
Venezuela Under the Rubble

This summer’s earthquakes exposed the hollow core of the country’s new, Trump-instated government, leaving ordinary citizens all but alone in recovering from catastrophe.

Fintan O’Toole
Whose Hemisphere?

The US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro reinforces the Trump administration’s capacity to invent any pretext to justify the use of armed force.

—February 12, 2026

William Neuman
Machado Agonistes

The Venezuelan opposition leader courted US military intervention—but she did not get what she bargained for.

—January 15, 2026

David Cole
Trump’s War

The invasion of Venezuela is not law enforcement; it is imperialism, pure and simple.

—January 3, 2026

Alma Guillermoprieto
Don’t Cry for Me, Venezuela

On the reality show that Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, stages at irregular but frequent intervals for the benefit of his nation, he is the only star. Most Sundays, he can be seen on the all-day program Aló Presidente, which is obligatory viewing for anyone who might be interested in knowing what will be on the political agenda the following week, but there are also unscheduled interruptions to the evening newscasts and telenovelas, when the President takes over the networks to discuss whatever might be on his mind.

—October 6, 2005

Alma Guillermoprieto
The Gambler

The largest number of barrios is to be found at the eastern end of [Caracas], in the area of Petare, home to some 600,000 of the city’s four million inhabitants. This sprawling community is indeed poor, although in Venezuela, a country with a per capita income of $4,400, it is by no means the poorest.… It is in Petare that Hugo Chávez’s ambitious social welfare programs are implemented most ambitiously, because he has turned the poor into his de facto party, and as a result, whether his presidency stands or falls can be determined by the residents of this barrio, which vies for a place with three cities for the rank of Venezuela’s fourth-largest urban agglomeration.

—October 20, 2005

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