The provisional death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 3,811, causing massive destruction and leaving thousands of people homeless. At the same time, Caracas is calling for the release of state funds and gold that remain frozen abroad, in order to finance the reconstruction effort.

The still-preliminary official death toll from the twin earthquakes of June 24 has been revised upward, reaching 3,811, as announced Wednesday by the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, in a televised address.

“We can say that as of today, July 8, 2026,” it has been confirmed that “3,811 of our brothers and sisters have unfortunately been killed as a result of the double earthquake tragedy,” Rodrigues stated, with his sister, the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodrigues, at his side.

The previous death toll stood at 3,685.

Thousands injured and left homeless

According to the speaker of parliament, the earthquakes caused 16,740 injuries, while 6,462 people were rescued.

“We provided assistance to 86,794 families,” and “17,907 people have been left homeless,” said Jorge Rodríguez.

The two earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck the country 39 seconds apart. The worst damage was reported in northern Venezuela, particularly in the state of La Guaira.

Call on Carlos for Venezuela’s Gold

Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced on Wednesday that she had asked King Charles III of the United Kingdom to release approximately 30 metric tons of gold belonging to the Latin American country, but which remains frozen by British authorities as part of economic sanctions against Caracas.

As she said, this gold must be used for post-disaster reconstruction.

“I have decided to write a letter to the King of England requesting the release of our country’s gold held at the Bank of England. This gold belongs to our people. We need it to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake,” he said on public television.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Ivan Hill had called, during a virtual UN meeting organized by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), that the country’s funds, which have been frozen internationally, be released.

Sanctions and the U.S. stance

Under the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela had already asked London to unfreeze its gold reserves, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, to no avail. The British courts had rejected the requests.

On June 26, the Trump administration announced a four-month suspension of economic sanctions against Venezuela, so as not to hinder international rescue teams and humanitarian aid missions following the twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale.

Washington had imposed harsh economic sanctions on Caracas, particularly after 2019, with the aim of exerting suffocating pressure on the socialist former president Maduro, whom it considered “illegitimate.”

Following the U.S. military operation ordered by Trump that resulted in Maduro’s capture in early January, relations with Caracas began to thaw.

The U.S. government now supports interim President Rodríguez and is gradually lifting sanctions, primarily to facilitate the exploitation of Venezuela’s vast oil resources by American companies.

The UN estimates that the damage from the earthquakes amounts to $6.7 billion, a sum equivalent to 6% of Venezuela’s GDP.

The country has been mired in an economic crisis for years, a fact that makes the effort to rebuild after the disaster even more difficult.

Source: Protothema.gr