The Daily Journal. The commander of the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), General Francis Donovan, said Wednesday that U.S. military forces will completely withdraw from Venezuelan territory once they complete the search-and-rescue and humanitarian assistance operations launched after the devastating June 24 earthquakes.
During an official virtual press conference, the senior military officer emphasized the mission’s temporary and technical nature.
“We will continue until the job is done. Once we finish, we will leave Venezuela and resume our current operations throughout this great region of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean,” Donovan said.
The SOUTHCOM commander explained that the U.S. military currently has approximately 2,000 personnel deployed by land, air, and sea throughout Venezuela and surrounding areas, where they continue to carry out critical rescue operations.
Priority: Finding survivors
When international reporters asked about the current stage of the emergency, General Donovan stressed that U.S. agencies remain focused on locating people trapped beneath collapsed structures.
“Our nation’s premier search-and-rescue teams arrived aboard military aircraft to carry out the essential mission of searching for people who may still be alive beneath the rubble. In situations like these, responders typically have a window of three to seven days to rescue survivors who may still be injured under collapsed structures. That has been our entire focus so far.”
When reporters asked how long the naval task force would remain offshore despite projections that the humanitarian crisis could last as long as 24 months, Donovan confirmed that large vessels such as the USS Fort Lauderdale will remain on station. At the same time, the United States Department of State and the Venezuelan government continue diplomatic coordination.
“The ship will remain in place until, from the Department of War’s perspective, the Department of State determines—after coordinating with the Venezuelan government—that it is time to end operations. We have not reached that stage yet. Right now, our sole focus is saving lives.”
Donovan also addressed questions about the medical capabilities of the naval deployment. He explained that authorities have not requested direct hospitalization aboard U.S. vessels. However, SOUTHCOM continues using its full air and maritime logistics network to keep medical supplies, medicines, and equipment flowing to the field hospitals operating in the disaster zone.
Coordination with local authorities
When reporters raised questions about acting president Delcy Rodríguez and allegations that politics had influenced the humanitarian response, Donovan declined to engage in political debate. Instead, he said local authorities had fully cooperated by expediting assistance requests, while also acknowledging the country’s longstanding structural challenges.
“I believe this is, once again, an enormous challenge. Decades of limited investment in the Venezuelan people have made this crisis even more difficult for the current government. As we move through this stage, our focus remains on saving lives. We’ll see where things lead afterward, but any leader would face an immense challenge under circumstances like these.”
