When the ground shook, the Marines were already offshore. Is disaster imperialism the new face of war? Nature wreaks havoc, and the troops arrive to accept a surrender dressed up as rescue.
Two earthquakes, 5,200 dead — and within hours, the warships waiting off Venezuela's coast turned 'counter-narcotics patrol' into 'humanitarian mission'. Now more than 900 US troops are on the ground — nearly 2,000 counting the Caribbean staging hubs — running the capital's airport and its principal port, invited in by a government installed after the last president was carried off to a New York jail. Twenty nations sent rescuers; only one took the keys to the infrastructure. Welcome to disaster imperialism, where the invasion arrives dressed up as rescue — and stays, in SOUTHCOM's words, “until we're done”.
Within hours of the twin earthquakes that flattened swathes of the Caracas region on 24 June, killing over 5,200 people, the US military moved in using ships and troops already massed in international waters off Venezuela under Operation Southern Spear, a Caribbean build-up Washington describes as a counter-narcotics mission, but which the Venezuelan Government it toppled saw as preparation for an invasion.
With the destruction wrought by the earthquakes, critics of the deployment argue, US forces were able to skip ahead in the invasion script.
Nearly 2,000 US troops now operate in and around Venezuela, while the US Air Force manages the capital's international airport. At the country's principal port, La Guaira, an American amphibious warship sits docked. The Pentagon claims the mission is purely logistical and that its forces will leave “when they are done”.
All of it takes place under the aegis of an official request from Venezuela's new leader, acting President Delcy Rodríguez. Her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, currently sits in a New York jail cell awaiting trial on narcoterrorism charges, seized by US special forces in a January raid in Caracas — an operation Washington calls an arrest, and many others label a kidnapping.
Who Sent What: the International Response in Perspective
The table below is ranked by personnel deployed in-country, with money committed as the tiebreaker for actors whose team sizes were not reported (‘n/r’). Figures reflect itemised reporting as of early July 2026. The rows understate the total effort; the UN counted over 70 international teams with more than 2,300 personnel in La Guaira alone by 7 July. No other actor sent more than a few hundred people, and only one took control of infrastructure: the US military now runs the capital's international airport and has a warship berthed at La Guaira.
| # | Actor | Personnel in-country | Money committed | Military boots | Civilian boots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 900+ (~2,000 including Caribbean hubs) | $150M ($100M to UN pooled fund, $50M to aid partners) | Marines, Air Force and Navy contingents; 2 warships; C-17/C-130 transports; helicopters; drones; runs Maiquetía airport and La Guaira port operations | State Department DART and USAR teams from Fairfax County and Los Angeles County |
| 2 | El Salvador | 300 pledged, 150+ arrived in first days | – | – | Rescue workers and paramedics, 50 t of medical supplies |
| 3 | Mexico | 250 | – | Military rescue personnel, 4 aircraft, drone, 5 rescue dogs | – |
| 4 | Spain | 97 | ~$1.14M (€1M) | 57 UME soldiers | 40 Madrid firefighters |
| 5 | Switzerland | 80 | – | – | Rescue workers, 18 t of supplies |
| 6 | Turkey | 67 | – | – | Rescue experts, medics and aid workers |
| 7 | Colombia | 60+ | – | – | Rescuers, 12 t of aid |
| 8 | UN (CERF) | n/r | $15M allocated | – | OCHA coordination; WFP food prepositioned for 10,000+ families for two months |
| 9 | UNICEF | n/r | ~$3.5M from internal emergency funds | – | Supplies and staff deployed |
| 10 | IFRC / Red Cross | n/r | $2.5M released | – | 17 t of supplies from Panama hub |
| 11 | Netherlands | n/r | ~$2.28M (€2M, funding a rescue team) | – | Rescue team funded |
| 12 | Holy See | – | ~$114K (€100K) | – | – |
| 13 | France | n/r | – | Search-and-rescue unit including the 7th Civil Security Regiment | Medical teams, engineers |
| 14 | Italy | n/r | – | Defence ministry and air force | Civil protection team, firefighters |
| 15 | China | n/r | – | – | Rescue team, medical relief |
| 16 | World Central Kitchen | n/r | – | – | Relief team, mobilised within hours |
| 17 | World Vision | n/r | – | – | Shelter and child-support staff in Caracas |
| 18 | Czech Republic | n/r | – | – | Team assembled |
| 19 | Dominican Republic | n/r | – | – | First rescuers dispatched |
| 20 | Brazil | n/r | – | – | Rescue personnel and aid |
El Salvador, Washington’s closest ally in the region since Nayib Bukele’s 2019 election ended a decade of leftist rule, sent the second-largest contingent: 300 rescue workers and paramedics, more than 150 of them on the ground within days, along with 50 tonnes of medical supplies.
If disaster imperialism is the new face of war, and Venezuela in 2026 is the template, then expect the diggers from San Salvador to return home as soon as the rubble has been cleared – and the airport and the seaport to stay in American hands long after. Or, as SOUTHCOM’s commander puts it: “We leave when we’re done”.
