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Colombia has begun accepting international aid and rescue teams after initially rejecting some offers in the critical hours after Monday’s devastating earthquake.
The delay is believed to be the first controversy for the country’s new government, led by conservative President Abelardo de la Espriela, who took office on Friday.
News of the robbery comes as a 72-hour deadline to rescue survivors from beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings is drawing to a close, after which rescue workers warn the chances of finding survivors decrease dramatically.
Immediately after this week’s magnitude 7.4 earthquake, leaders in the Americas offered assistance – just as they did to Venezuela, which was hit by two strong tremors in June. The difference is that Venezuela immediately accepted dozens of international rescue teams without question, while Colombia turned some away or limited their options.
Political scientist Sandra Borda argued that the difficulties in managing aid are related to the tense political transition between the current and previous governments, with no formal handover. Notably, it was on Wednesday that David Tamayo Roldan was appointed director of Colombia’s National Disaster Risk Management Unit, which is responsible for disaster preparedness and response.
“If there wasn’t a handover, if there wasn’t that kind of personnel change, it would have been very normal for a short circuit like this to happen,” says Borda, a professor at the University of Los Andes.
The outlook was uncertain on Tuesday as several countries and agencies, including the United Nations, said they had not received any requests for assistance from Colombian authorities.
“If this happens, the United Nations system and humanitarian actors stand ready to provide all possible assistance,” said Jens Rahlke, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Mexico had prepared a large amount of supplies and a contingent of 255 military personnel, but it had not received a request from Colombia and was dependent on Colombia for deployment.
Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to Colombia, Zhu Jingyang, called on Colombia to “urgently” establish an official channel to coordinate international aid, saying, “We hope that the Colombian government will immediately announce the names of officials and their contact details to coordinate international aid to earthquake victims.”
As time passed, I finally began to adjust.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced on Tuesday afternoon that he would send humanitarian aid to Colombia, but noted that the de la Espriela government had requested aid “only in the form of materials” for the affected people.
“We have received reports that rescue teams, medical personnel and other emergency services are deployed and responding to the situation. Therefore, no human assistance is required at this time,” he said.
However, Peru confirmed on Wednesday that it would send volunteers to assist with search and rescue operations.
Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later announced that it was drawing up a list of “specific needs” for which to request international assistance and had requested assistance from the United Nations Development Programme.
The new disaster management chief also said Wednesday that governments have requested rescue teams from only four countries: the United States, El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel. In Colombia’s view, each country’s rescue teams have the necessary international and national qualifications for the mission.
Foreign Minister Omar Bulla insisted that “we have absolutely not excluded any country regarding the offers made to our country,” adding: “We are working with countries without any ideological or political considerations.”
The United States confirmed Wednesday that it had mobilized search and rescue teams from Virginia and California to Colombia at the request of the government.
Borda commented that he found the new government to be “difficult to understand” as it displayed a “deep mistrust of parts of the international community.”
Regarding the arrival of rescue teams, he added: “It was not clear what steps to take. I think this happened at a very difficult time. It’s a really unfortunate situation.”
He also said the subsequent acceptance of the arrival of experts undermined the argument that they were not needed.
Rescue operations underway after Colombia earthquake
“There was recognition from the beginning that the rescue teams were sufficient, but no technical assessment was published to confirm that they were indeed sufficient to deal with all the damage and destruction caused by the earthquake,” she said.
In any case, it is unclear where international human resources are needed. The emergency chief of the fire department in Cali, one of the worst-hit cities, suggested that volunteers should not approach the collapse site because “there are already enough specialized personnel to carry out rescue operations without complications.”
The Topos Tlatelolco Rescue Brigade, a Mexican group with extensive experience in responding to natural disasters, said on Wednesday that Colombian authorities “will not allow outside rescue groups to enter” as the work is being carried out by national rescue workers.
Meanwhile, in Pereira, another hard-hit city, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrated the arrival of 19.5 tons of aid from Mexico.
“Additional flights are planned in the coming days. Colombia is not alone! The international community is with us,” the ministry said in X.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that her government ultimately coordinated with the Colombian side to “request certain items” and that the flight also included “members of the Mexican military to support the effort.”
