Press Briefing with John Barrett, Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy Caracas and General Francis Donovan, Commander, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)

MODERATOR: Welcome. I am Natalia Molano, Director of the U.S. Department of State's Miami Media Hub.

This press briefing will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish. Please find the globe icon on the lower menu ribbon of your screen to select your language.

We are privileged to have Chargé d'Affaires John Barrett at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela; and General Francis Donovan, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, in Miami, Florida. They will discuss the Trump Administration's robust and rapid delivery of lifesaving assistance for the Venezuelan people following the devastating earthquakes in their nation on June 24, 2026.

This virtual press conference is on the record, attributable by name to each respective official. We will start with opening remarks, and then I will moderate questions from journalists. Chargé d'Affaires John Barrett, you may begin your remarks.

MR BARRETT: Thank you, Natalia, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for being here. We meet just one week after the devastating June 24 earthquakes in Venezuela. The loss and destruction has been staggering. I have seen the devastation firsthand, and it is heartbreaking. But the magnitude of this tragedy has been matched by the magnitude of the massive U.S. response.

At President Trump's direction, the United States is leading the largest international earthquake response in Venezuela's modern history. Within hours, the U.S. Government, led by the Department of State, with critical support from the Department of War, launched a comprehensive whole-of-government effort to save lives. Our urban search and rescue teams - more than 310 specialists from Miami-Dade, Miami City, Los Angeles, and Fairfax County - are on the ground right now. And to note, for the first time in many years, we have activated the two teams from south Florida. They have already rescued five survivors, our U.S. teams on the ground, including a mother and her toddler. And an American citizen previously reported missing has been found.

Our support goes well beyond search and rescue. The Department of War has deployed unique airlift and logistics capabilities to move equipment, supplies, and personnel into affected areas. U.S. humanitarian assistance now totals more than $300 million. Just last night, additional shelter, water, and sanitation supplies arrived for distribution to families in urgent need. I also visited a fully operational field hospital established by Samaritan's Purse in under 36 hours. It's now providing lifesaving care to the injured and displaced. Our disaster assistance response team and international partners are working tirelessly. Our immediate priority remains saving lives, finding survivors, providing emergency medical care, and delivering food, water, and shelter. At the same time, we are already supporting longer-term recovery and infrastructure restoration.

I want to thank everyone who has stepped up for the people of Venezuela - our partners on the ground and those making donations from home. Your efforts are making a real difference. This moment carries added meaning as we approach our two national independence days - July 4 for the United States and July 5 for Venezuela - that remind us of our shared histories and shared aspirations. In this difficult time, we stand with the people of Venezuela and we will continue to stand with them in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Now we turn over for remarks from General Francis Donovan.

GENERAL DONOVAN: Thank you, Natalia. And I'd like to start off by thanking Chargé d'Affaires Barrett - John Barrett - for his leadership of the U.S. Government effort in Venezuela. His leadership has made all the difference.

What U.S. Southern Command did to reinforce John Barrett early was to send one of our senior generals down to stand side by side to ensure that the Department of War's response was in lockstep with the Department of State. Key is that we work by, with, and through the Department of State. This is a State-led response effort, and the closer the Department of War and Department of State work together in support of the Venezuelan Government, there's more lives we can save and there's more relief supplies we can distribute and there's many more ways we can combine our efforts to support the people of Venezuela.

Right now, the U.S. military, the Department of War, has roughly 2,000 teammates in the area on land, air, and sea around Venezuela. They are working hard daily to help in the search and rescue efforts, to help in the recovery efforts, to deliver needed supplies. We have leveraged a large complement of aircraft, ground vehicles, naval ships to support operations in and around Venezuela. We will continue to do so until the job is done. And when we're done, we will depart Venezuela, and then we will move back to our current operations throughout this great region of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

We are very fortunate to be able to bring to bear these Department of War capabilities in support of our friends in Venezuela. More rewarding, however, has been the response of our other partners from inside this important region - the same partners that we conduct exercises with, that we train with, we are now on the ground, in the air, and on the sea with those same partners, supporting Venezuela. And that's really the importance of these enduring relationships. So when one nation - any of our nations - goes through a tough time, we all can join together to assist.

So the Department of War, the U.S. Southern Command, will be here for our partners, we'll be on the ground and in the air and the sea around Venezuela until the job is done, and we will follow the Department of State's lead and be prepared to do whatever we can for the people of Venezuela. Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We will begin taking questions from journalists. Journalists, please be sure to write your name and media affiliation in your attendee label to help us identify you. If you have a question, please raise your virtual hand. You may ask your question in English or Spanish. Once we call on you, we will allow you to unmute. You will see a screen prompt to activate your microphone. You may direct your question to one or both of the speakers. Please keep your question brief and only ask one question.

We will start with a question from Missy Ryan from The Atlantic.

QUESTION: Hi there. Can you guys hear me?

MODERATOR: Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you so much to both of you. I just wanted to know, could you give us an idea of the - how this response compares to past earthquakes or natural disasters that the United States has assisted with, including Hurricane Melissa or in past earthquakes in the region? We're just trying to understand what the scale is here. Obviously there's a lot of need, but we're also trying to understand how the new system under the U.S. kind of bureaucracy and organizational structure is working and what the scope of that is. Thanks.

GENERAL DONOVAN: Missy, this is General Donovan. I will take the first cut on that question. One is each crisis like this is very different, as you noted. Hurricane Melissa last year, our SOUTHCOM forces responded, task organized, specifically for that case. Sometimes we bring in additional fresh water or power generation, but usually Department of War, our strength is logistics and speed. And so as we look at each crisis, we tailor our forces appropriately so we can support, so that we don't overwhelm the nation we're supporting. We put the right types of people on the ground to actually deliver the effect - and not too many, because you never want to create the situation that those that are coming to provide assistance become people that need support also. So each one is tailored differently. This is much larger than Melissa but smaller than maybe 2010 in Haiti, so each one's a little bit different. Over.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We will now go with José Silva from El Diario in Venezuela.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Hello, good afternoon. My question is for Mr. Donovan, from the U.S. rescue team perspective, is the search for surviving people or the emergency a priority, is it in a phase of recovery of the victims? And what do you think is the first challenging feat to find victims? Or is it the logistics, picking up of rubbish? And those are my questions.

MODERATOR: Gracias. Thank you.

GENERAL DONOVAN: Sir, thank you for those questions. The first priority in - our chargé d'affaires, John Barrett, mentioned his first request was to bring in search and rescue capabilities from the United States, which we did from the West Coast of the United States and the East Coast. Our nation's premier search and rescue teams were brought in on military aircraft to do that primary task of search for folks still living potentially trapped in the rubble. In these situations, you have anywhere from three to seven days that you have to respond to hopefully recover people that are still living and may be injured in the rubble. And that's - that's our total effort so far, to focus on that.

And maybe I'll ask John Barrett if he wants to follow up on that.

MR BARRETT: Yes. Thank you, General. Just yesterday I was out at one of the fallen buildings and there was a team from Los Angeles County still working an active live site. And in that general vicinity, there were two other teams working live - active live sites. So this lifesaving work continues, and we remain 100 percent focused at this stage on the search and rescue mission. And we will continue to do so until a decision within the Venezuelan Government suggests that we move from there. But we're absolutely focused right now 100 percent on saving lives.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much. Okay, now I will turn to Syra Ortiz Blanes, or Blanes, from the Miami Herald. Syra, I will go ahead and unmute you. If you don't have audio I can also read your question from the Q&A. Let's try to have you come on.

Go ahead.

Okay, we are unable to hear you, but I see your question, and I will go ahead and read it: "Nonprofits in Venezuela are reporting that the aid is being held or confiscated. Is the U.S. aware of these reports, and how is the U.S. Government ensuring that aid reaches the most vulnerable?"

MR BARRETT: Yes, thank you. So we - thanks to the Department of War and General Donovan and General Jarrard's team here on the ground, we have an incredibly strong logistics backbone that enables us to get just about anything to just about anyone or anywhere within the country, but specifically of course in the localized destruction zone. This backbone has had no issues in terms of being put together, and the government has complied with our request to accelerate the response.

The NGOs - I've spoken to many of them - have also not reported any major issues in terms of getting their relief supplies and assistance out to community members in need. So we feel very strong about not only this logistics backbone the Department of War has put in place but also the steady supply of commodities and other relief material that's been coming in and our ability to work with our NGO partners on the ground to get - to make sure they get to the folks in need. Thanks.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Now I will turn to Estefanía Giambalvo from Venevisión. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon. Can you hear me?

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Proceed.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) The humanity service in La Guaira will be for 24 months. What is the assistance of the U.S.? Is it going to last for approximately that time or are they retreating sooner than that? Thank you. And also, what plan are they trying to execute, the U.S., and for how long is the boat Fort Lauderdale helping Venezuela during this tragedy?

MODERATOR: Chargé, may we go to you first? Thank you.

MR BARRETT: Right, no doubt the scale of this disaster requires a long-term effort, and we're committed to working closely with the Venezuelans and with the - and with the Department of War and other agencies throughout our government to ensure that we work day and night for the weeks, months, and time ahead to attend to the needs. One of the most important needs going forward starting now and into the immediate and medium long - medium terms will - of course will be the provision of shelter, and that's why this has been a major focus as of late, to bring in shelter material to take care of the displaced citizens.

Also, as you might imagine, after having 189 collapsed buildings in this localized zone and then another 173 severely damaged homes, there is a huge task ahead in terms of debris removal. And we will continue to work with the Venezuelan people to address these needs, including sanitation, water, energy generation. And we will continue to - along that path as long as it takes.

MODERATOR: General Donovan, any comments from you on that?

GENERAL DONOVAN: No. I appreciate the recognition of the Fort Lauderdale. As the chargé said, it is part of the relief effort that will remain in place until - for us from the Department of War, until the Department of State says that they have coordinated with the Venezuelan Government that it would be time to then stop operations. We have not had those discussions at this point. We are focused on saving lives right now, finding folks still in the rubble, and setting conditions for logistic delivery of relief supplies. So right now it's what we call full speed ahead, and the Fort Lauderdale will stay or other equivalent capabilities will stay until the chargé tells us otherwise.

MODERATOR: Thank you. I will now call on Ginette González from Union Radio.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon to everyone. Chargé Barrett, the information in regards to the losses that you have seen on land and the finances, and what is the finance responsibility - financial responsibility of reconstructing the country?

And for General Donovan, the bunker hospital, is it prepared to do interventions and primary assistance? What is the reach?

MR BARRETT: Yeah, thank you for the question. Certainly the costs of the recovery will be great. One thing that gives us a high level of confidence is that, fortunately, this destruction from the earthquake did not impact the country's oil and gas sector. So that production continues, and that continues to increase with the investments that the United States and private - private enterprise from around the world had already begun to initiate here in the economic recovery phase of the President and the Secretary's three-phase plan. So those revenues are continuing to come in through specialized accounts that the U.S. Treasury has control over, and we've made sure - and we have teams from U.S. Treasury and the State Department working very closely - to make sure that those funds are made available for this specific reconstruction effort, including for shelter, sanitation, health, and energy generation.

GENERAL DONOVAN: And from General Donovan, just to maybe answer the question on the medical, I think the question was medical supplies and delivery of. We will use that logistics network that we've established so far, both in the air, on the land, and sea, to deliver all material that we are directed to do so by the Department of State. And so medical supplies obviously would be at the forefront. And currently we have not been asked to provide any medical direct capability from a department and world perspective, but we are actively involved in delivering medical supplies.

MODERATOR: All right, we will go to Laura Artal next from OCB Martí.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) If you can hear me, good afternoon.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Proceed.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Now that my colleagues have focused primarily on the emergency, I would like to focus on this part over the administration - Trump Administration had initially planned around in January in three phases for Venezuela in regards to stability and recuperation. And this focus, the emergency - do these three phases for Venezuela - move to the second phase or is this recovery phase taking primary - primarily first?

MODERATOR: Chargé, would you like to go first?

MR BARRETT: Right. As I mentioned, the President and the Secretary have outlined a very specific three-phase plan for Venezuela, which very much remains intact. That first phase is stability, and so this does shed new light on the importance of stability within Venezuela. And we had been very confident in terms of stability, and we remain very confident in terms of stability. It's just that that reconstruction looks a little bit different, of course, since the devastating earthquake. But the economic recovery had already begun, and we will be focused back on this investment climate and back on recovery of the economy, including for the everyday Venezuelans who really do deserve a much more prosperous future where their oil revenues and the resources of this vast and rich country are better accrued by the everyday Venezuelan people. So I'm focused right now on saving lives, but we will get back to phase two and Venezuela's economic recovery.

MODERATOR: General, anything from you?

GENERAL DONOVAN: No, I believe John hit that very well.

MODERATOR: Excellent. And we will go to Julia Jester from MS NOW. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you so much for doing this call. The last question answered part of what I wanted to ask, but I wanted to hear from you about some of the criticisms of how Delcy Rodríguez has been handling and accused of politicizing the response. Can you just speak a little bit about the direct coordination between the interim authorities in Venezuela, who is kind of taking the lead there, and are you concerned about potential destabilization making the long-term efforts you just discussed more difficult?

MR BARRETT: Yes, hi. So this is a massive response, right, that SOUTHCOM, General Donovan's and General Jarrard's team along with the State Department, are putting together here and it does require a high-level coordination with local authorities to be successful. And what I can say with confidence is that the local authorities have fully complied with our requests and have accelerated this massive humanitarian response.

MODERATOR: General, last word?

GENERAL DONOVAN: No, I believe that the chargé d'affaires hit that very well. I do think that this is, again, a massive problem, and there is decades of poor investment in the people of Venezuela that made this even more challenging for the current government. So as we move in this phase, focus on saving lives and then we'll see where this takes us, but it is a big problem for any leader to deal with a challenge of this magnitude.

MODERATOR: All right. Well, being mindful of our leaders' time, I'm afraid that was the last question. I have some additional information for everyone as we conclude today's briefing. Thank you all for your participation and your interest. There will be an English audio recording and an English transcript published on state.gov. We will also have a Spanish language translation of that transcript on state.gov/español. If you have any questions or you would like to submit additional questions in writing if we did not get to your question, please send it to the Miami Media Hub at [email protected]. Goodbye, until next time.