Fourteen U.S. Democratic representatives on Tuesday asked Donald Trump to lift economic sanctions on Venezuela and unlock frozen oil funds after the earthquakes of 24 June left northern parts of the country in ruins. The letter was also sent to Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, and it says the money should be permanently released so Caracas can use it for reconstruction and stabilization.
The appeal lands as Venezuela tries to measure a disaster that was already among the worst in more than a century. Lawmakers said the 24 June earthquakes were the most powerful to hit the country in over 100 years, and they followed them with more than 1,250 aftershocks in the next three weeks. The shaking damaged or collapsed about 1,400 buildings, including schools and hospitals, and nearly 18,000 people lost their homes.
Jorge Rodríguez gave the latest death toll on Monday, saying 4,561 people had been killed and 16,740 injured. He added that about 300 bodies remained unidentified. Those numbers help explain why the letter reads less like a routine policy protest and more like a plea to free cash fast: the UN has put the physical destruction at $6.700 billion, while the Geological Survey has estimated total economic losses could reach $100,000 million.
The lawmakers say the economic restrictions are already blocking urgent relief and will keep threatening Venezuela’s recovery if they stay in place. They also draw a line between the earthquake itself and the policy response around it, calling the tremors a natural disaster while describing sanctions and the asset freeze as human-made and avoidable measures that have weakened reconstruction. That argument comes as the country remains under a kind of tutelage by Washington after the military operation of 3 January to capture and imprison Nicolás Maduro.
What happens next now rests with Trump, Rubio and Bessent. If the administration moves, the immediate question is whether it would only ease sanctions or go further and permanently free the oil money that the lawmakers say Venezuela needs to rebuild. If it does nothing, the damage from 24 June will keep colliding with a financial blockade that the letter says is making a catastrophe worse.
