Rosen Asks State Department What It’s Doing to Ensure American Aid Reaches Venezuelans Affected by Deadly Earthquakes

Skip to content Facebook-f Instagram Youtube Flickr Newsletter Español Newsletter Español Search For Nevadans Constituent Services Help with a Federal Agency Flag Requests Tour Requests Internships Senate Page Nominations Academy Nominations Resource Guides Veterans Resource Guide Senior Resource Guide Small Business Pocket Guide Federal Funding Grant Requests Appropriations Requests Community Project Funding FY27 NDAA Submission Requests About Jacky Biography Committees Voting Record News Press Releases In The News Videos Photos Contact Email Jacky Request a Meeting Office Locations Newsletter Signup Privacy Policy For Nevadans Constituent Services Help with a Federal Agency Flag Requests Tour Requests Internships Senate Page Nominations Academy Nominations Resource Guides Veterans Resource Guide Senior Resource Guide Small Business Pocket Guide Federal Funding Grant Requests Appropriations Requests Community Project Funding FY27 NDAA Submission Requests About Jacky Biography Committees Voting Record News Press Releases In The News Videos Photos Contact Email Jacky Request a Meeting Office Locations Newsletter Signup Privacy Policy Rosen Asks State Department What It’s Doing to Ensure American Aid Reaches Venezuelans Affected by Deadly Earthquakes July 15, 2026 Watch the full exchange HERE WASHINGTON, DC – During a hearing for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Western Hemisphere subcommittee, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) asked Ambassador Michael Kozak, Senior Bureau Official for the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, about how the Department is ensuring that American aid to Venezuela is reaching the people affected by the deadly June earthquakes and is not diverted by corruption. As of today, the earthquakes have claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people, and an additional 16,000 have been injured. Excerpts from the exchange below: Senator Rosen: I have just a few seconds left. I want to ask about the catastrophic earthquakes last month. Nearly 4,000 Venezuelans have sadly lost their lives. We believe 16,000 sustained injuries, thousands more left homeless without adequate shelter as a result of these horrific earthquakes and experts estimate that Venezuela will require roughly $37 billion to recover, yet the country’s institutions just have very limited capacity to manage any reconstruction. Again, the risks of corruption are significant… How is the State Department working with international partners to ensure reconstruction assistance is coordinated, is transparent, is protected from corruption, and really helps these folks that have lost everything? What are you doing to help there? Ambassador Kozak : Yes, well what we have done so far is provide $386 million in assistance and this was largely food, medicine. Senator Rosen: Will you be using some of the oil revenue to help with reconstruction? Ambassador Kozak: That will come. This was U.S. assistance money that I’m mentioning now. That got us through the period of trying to recover people that were buried under rubble, and feeding people that had been displaced and so on. There are about, almost 18,000 people who have been displaced from their homes. In terms of the housing issue, trying to get adequate housing for people, that’s where we were looking for them using their own revenues. They should have plenty of cash flow to do that. We are providing advisors and so on. We have got one company that’s in, helping them look at buildings to see if they’re safe to be reoccupied again, or what repairs would be needed to make them so. We’re also looking at companies that can supply modular housing and this kind of thing to rapidly get housing in. So we are helping them select the people who can do this in an honest and transparent way and then looking to use the oil revenues to pay for it in the end. So that is the phase we are in right now, and that’s working. You are absolutely right, I mean, it’s a huge disaster for the country. ### Facebook-f Instagram Youtube Flickr Contact Email Jacky Request a Meeting Office Locations Newsletter Signup Privacy Policy Contact Email Jacky Request a Meeting Office Locations Newsletter Signup Privacy Policy For Nevadans Constituent Services Help With a Federal Agency Flag Requests Tour Requests Internships Senate Page Nominations Academy Nominations For Nevadans Constituent Services Help With a Federal Agency Flag Requests Tour Requests Internships Senate Page Nominations Academy Nominations Resource Guides Veterans Resource Guide Senior Resource Guide Small Business Pocket Guide Federal Funding Grant Requests Appropriations Requests Community Project Funding Resource Guides Veterans Resource Guide Senior Resource Guide Small Business Pocket Guide Federal Funding Grant Requests Appropriations Requests Community Project Funding About Jacky Biography Committees Voting Record Legislation News Press Releases In the News Videos About Jacky Biography Committees Voting Record Legislation News P