Venezuela arrests four police officers for looting cash from rubble after earthquakes

Four Venezuelan police officials have been arrested after they were accused of looting cash from a building that collapsed in last week's twin earthquakes that killed over 2,000 people.

While authorities still try to look for survivors in the rubble, videos of angry people preventing members of the scientific, penal and criminalistic investigation service corps (CICPC) from taking away cash kept in a safe left behind in the rubble of a ruined building in the hard-hit state of La Guaira.

The CICPC has said in a statement that it has taken action against the four officials in question and taken disciplinary action for their “immediate dismissal”.

“In light of the recent events in the areas affected by the earthquakes in La Guaira state, it was confirmed that a group of officers, deviating from their duties and taking advantage of the rescue and humanitarian aid efforts, acted improperly by appropriating valuables found among the rubble,” the statement said.

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It added, "This individual conduct, reprehensible and contrary to the fundamental values ​​of our doctrine, directly undermines the institution’s prestige and public respect.”

Public anger over slow rescue ops

Public frustration is mounting over the government's slow rescue response, with many also accusing members of the military and police of misconduct during the disaster.

Volunteers, armed with little more than shovels, ropes and their bare hands, say they are working tirelessly to search for survivors. At the same time, they allege that some Venezuelan military and police personnel have looted property, obstructed relief efforts and diverted donated supplies.

Senior government officials have dismissed the allegations as misinformation, attributing the growing public anger and reports of looting and delays to false narratives circulating online. They have urged citizens to disregard what they called "manipulation strategies on social networks" and instead rely on official sources for updates.

Rescue ops underway

Hundreds of rescuers were working late Wednesday to save a 43-year-old Venezuelan man who had survived for a week under the ruins of a seven-story building, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Hernan Gil, a 43-year-old security guard, is trapped inside his booth under the building where he worked in Catia La Mar, a coastal area almost entirely razed to the ground in the June 24 twin earthquakes, magnitude 7.2 and 7.5.

Rescue teams from seven countries  -- Venezuela, Chile, the United States, Portugal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico -- have been working around-the-clock over the past three days to reach him.

Chile's fire service published an Instagram video of Gil inside his chamber, moving his head to look at the camera.

He was wearing a face mask and his right eye was bloodshot.

“This is truly a miracle,” Gil's wife Gusbimar Gonzalez told AFP.

"I’m completely amazed because it’s the first time I’ve seen so many countries come together like this to save a single person,” she said.

With inputs from AFP