Venezuela is experiencing crucial hours this Saturday for the rescue of the victims who were trapped after the collapse of several buildings, especially in the state of La Guaira, due to the two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 last Wednesday, which have left at least 920 dead and 3,360 injured.

The president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, assured in the early hours of today that the priority of the Government and the different security forces is the rescue of the people who have been trapped.

The Minister of Communication, Miguel Pérez Pirela, shared on his Telegram account a video of machinery moving to La Guaira, where residents have asked for help since Friday and have acknowledged that they have used their own tools to search for people in the rubble.

“Gigantic amounts of heavy machinery continue to arrive in La Guaira to save lives,” the minister wrote in the message that accompanies the video.

National and international rescuers concentrate efforts in the most affected areas

In Caracas, Gustavo Duque, the mayor of the Chacao municipality, one of the most affected in the city, indicated that in one of the buildings in the area, the Don Pepe, there are no longer people alive.

"I want to tell you with complete clarity and sincerity that all the studies have already been carried out in the Don Pepe building. The commander of the firefighters certified that unfortunately there are no longer people alive in the Don Pepe building," he said in a video published on Instagram.

Regarding another building in the most affected area, the Petunia, he explained that Mexican and Argentine rescuers entered “every place they could” and explained that the structure's plates are heavy.

"We are going to do everything possible to rescue people alive. But it is complex. They (the rescuers) themselves have recognized that it is a complex job," Duque added.

From Los Palos Grandes, in Caracas, Héctor Méndez, a rescue worker from Mexico, declared to the state channel Venezolana de Televisión that he is in Venezuela for the third time and that he and his team have been working at the site since Friday night.

“We are not going to move until we finish because we made a moral commitment and the Aztec Topos are a group of words,” Méndez stressed.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense of Venezuela, Gustavo González López, and Major General Kevin J. Jarrard, of the United States Marine Corps, are fine-tuning strategies at the facilities of the Simón Bolívar de Maiquetía International Airport, in La Guaira, inoperative due to damage resulting from the earthquake.

“Good military employment is coordinated to guarantee the best logistical deployment, essential in the bridge of humanitarian assistance and comprehensive care to the victims of the recent earthquake,” the Ministry of Defense published on its Telegram account.

Likewise, they supervised the work aimed at the prompt recovery and stabilization of the landing strips and general infrastructure of the country's main airport, added the State portfolio.

Wednesday's double earthquake has left at least 920 dead and 3,360 injured, according to the latest official figures.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated this Friday that up to 6.76 million people could have been affected by the earthquakes. The figure would include two million people in Caracas.

The country has received more than 1,600 international rescuers to care for the victims, reported this Saturday the Venezuelan vice chancellor for Europe and North America, Oliver Blanco.

Rescuers from El Salvador, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Ecuador, Spain, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, Italy and the United States arrived in Venezuela this week and 10 more countries are expected to join, said Delcy Rodríguez, without offering more details, in a message published during the early hours of the morning.