Venezuela Earthquakes

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am very happy to put money into the Venezuelan response, but we can all work out that every penny we put into one response leaves us less for the next crisis. We have an El Niño year; we are about to start hurricane season. We have food insecurity across Africa because of the conflict in the Middle East. It would be irresponsible for me just to make commitments about what we will and will not do from this Dispatch Box in such a serious situation. It has been a truly global response in Venezuela, and that is very good to see. We have seen a particularly strong response from Latin America, which is encouraging, and the United States has also played a leading role. It has been a good example of how the international community can come together and co-ordinate to great effect.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, we welcome the Government’s response—helping is a good thing—and we also welcome support from the Disasters Emergency Committee. As has been said, the British public have been extremely generous. What assessment has the Minister made of the failures of the Venezuelan state in this matter? It has been truly shocking to see the response of what was the Maduro Government and the hollowing out in these circumstances. There has been a dreadful local response. International partners have stepped in to help. What assessment have the Government made of this?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Lord. It has been devastating, dreadful and heartbreaking. A country that should be prosperous and successful and that should provide a good place to live and succeed for its population has been badly led by a corrupt regime. I suspect we agree on much of that analysis. What needs to happen now is the physical rebuilding and the support for the population, but the Venezuelan state really needs to look to itself. It has some serious questions to answer about how it has allowed the impact of this to be more devastating than it could have been, and about what it needs to do next to rebuild its economy, society and the country more generally.