AMY GOODMAN: This news from Venezuela: Bodies are buried under huge sheets of mud, overturned boulders and trees and wrecked homes, so many and so deeply buried that officials may never be sure how many people were killed in Venezuela’s disastrous rains. With rescue workers facing the impossible task of digging out all the dead, authorities say they may just declare entire areas memorials and leave the bodies where they lie. Official estimates of the number of dead killed from mudslides and flooding last week range from 5,000 to 30,000. So far, 1,500 bodies have been recovered, and Venezuela has asked the United States for 10,000 body bags.

We go now down to Venezuela, where Luis Cordova is standing by. He is a reporter with IPS, the Inter Press Service.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Luis.

LUIS CORDOVA: Hello. Good morning. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to be with you. Can you describe for us today what the scene is and where you are?

LUIS CORDOVA: Well, I’m in Caracas, which is 14 kilometers south of the Caribbean coast, where the worst of the tragedy has been seen. The state of Vargas, which is the coastal zone of Caracas, looks like — remember the movie The Day After? That’s what it looks like. For the people living there, the world just came to an end.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you describe how this all happened?

LUIS CORDOVA: Well, it began — it really began like by the end of November, when extraordinary rains poured over the northern part of Venezuela due to the weather phenomenon called La Niña. But Wednesday, Wednesday the 15th, when almost 10 million Venezuelans were asked to vote in order to approve or reject a new constitution for this country, the heavy rains welcomed the voters, and those rains never stopped. By the end of that day, it was clear that there were some problems in some of the slums around Caracas. But when Venezuelans woke up Thursday morning, they found out that the voting news were completely forgotten by newspapers and TV stations since that night, the green mountains that divide Caracas from the coast were the origin of terrible mudslides. And, well, it all happened — most of the tragedy happened that night.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, so often we see, in situations like these, although natural disaster hits everyone, that it is much harsher for the poor of the country. Can you describe who is the hardest hit?

LUIS CORDOVA: Well, it is the poor, although in some places of the Caribbean, of that Caribbean coast, also very luxury clubs and buildings have been hit. But it is the poor who usually live closer to the creeks that become torrents. They live illegally there, because those are places where you are not supposed to build your houses. Some of the luxury buildings were also built illegally very close to the river beds or the creek beds, because they are really creeks, and they became torrents of mud and rocks after the rains. There is a whole environmental analysis on the causes for this disaster, and the president has been one of — President Chávez has been one of the first ones to point out the need to move some of that people out of the those dangerous areas.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, the need from other countries?

LUIS CORDOVA: I didn’t catch — 

AMY GOODMAN: What other people can do, what people in the United States can do for the people of Venezuela, as we’re looking at this massive and rising death toll?

LUIS CORDOVA: Well, there has been some relief aid coming from the United States and other many countries. But after this tragedy and as the days pass by, there will be huge needs for the rebuilding efforts and also to place almost 150,000 people who have been left homeless. Almost 200,000 people have been left workless, so there will be huge needs in order to pay for the rebuilding, all that rebuilding efforts, and also to help people to rebuild their lives again.

AMY GOODMAN: Luis Cordova, I want to thank you for joining us. Luis Cordova is a reporter with Inter Press Service, IPS. He is in Venezuela. You’re listening to Pacifica Radio.