The interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced on Tuesday the resumption of commercial flights “shortly” at Caracas airport, damaged by the double earthquake of June 24.
“I have ordered the immediate activation of an alternative plan that will allow commercial flights to resume, shortly, on the parallel runway that this airport has,” Ms. Rodríguez said on her Telegram account, after going there to assess the situation.
Simón Bolívar International Airport is located in La Guaira, north of the Venezuelan capital, the epicenter of the two earthquakes of June 24 which left more than 3,500 dead and destroyed numerous residential buildings.
The airport, the largest in the Caribbean country, is currently partially open to humanitarian flights.
One of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters has left thousands of people homeless and several thousand more still missing, particularly in the badly affected La Guaira region.
American soldiers are participating in the work to reopen the airport as well as repairing the port of La Guaira, also damaged by the earthquakes, in order to facilitate the delivery of supplies and equipment.
