2005: President Bush Rejected Venezuela’s offer of Aid for Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina Struck the US Gulf Coast on August 29,2005. Levees on the Mississippi River were breached and 80% of New Orleans was flooded.500,000 people were displaced from their homes. The Federal response was slow and disorganized.

Many countries offered aid. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after consulting with the White House made it clear that the US would accept all offerings of foreign assistance. [1] Dutch and Mexican soldiers distributed aid; food aid was sent from Germany; Russia and Switzerland provided generators, tents and meals.

On August 31, Venezuela sent an official note to the US Embassy in Caracas offering immediate aid. The offer was accepted by US Ambassador William Brownfield. The US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roger Noriega, confirmed the offer and welcomed it.[2] The Venezuelan offer included: $ 1 million for the Louisiana State Governor, 120 specialists in first aid and search and rescue, two mobile hospitals, ten water purification stations, eight electric generators, twenty tons of drinking water, fifty tons of canned food, and 5,000 blankets.

On September 2, Venezuelan President Chavez criticized the Bush Administration’s response to the emergency, saying that the US reacted much too slowly to the disaster in New Orleans:

·        “That government had no evacuation plan… it is incredible, the first power in the world… that is so involved in Iraq…and it left its own population adrift! That man … that man is the ‘king of vacations’… he sat at his ranch in Texas and said nothing… did nothing…yes, he told people ‘You have to flee’ but he didn’t say how… what a cowboy, what a cowboy mentality.” [2] [3]

President Bush Rejected the offer of aid from Venezuela:

•        “An offer of aid from the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been rejected, according to the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. Mr Jackson said that the rejection of the offer from one of Mr Bush’s most outspoken foes was a sign that the federal government was incapable of handling the crisis properly.This may be Mr Bush’s worst hour of leadership,’ said Mr Jackson” [4]

 

1.Kelman, Ilan, Hurricane Katrina Disaster Diplomacy, Disasters, September 2007.

2. Venezuela Officially Offers Aid to US, which is Accepted, Venezuelananalysis, September 3, 2005

3. Why did help take so long to arrive? Guardian, September 2, 2005  

4. Bush rejects Chavez Aid, Guardian, September 6, 2005

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