Overview
- Spain’s 40-person START 'chalecos rojos' medical contingent departed Madrid on Wednesday to provide emergency care in areas hit by last week’s earthquakes.
- Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares reported 26 Spaniards dead, about 150 missing and 12 still trapped under rubble, prompting intensified consular and relief efforts.
- START is a WHO-certified rapid-response team that can install a fully operational field hospital in roughly 36 hours and operate autonomously for days.
- The team includes emergency doctors, surgeons, nurses, psychologists and physiotherapists and is carrying medicines donated by the Fundación Reina Sofía valued at €120,613.
- Spanish officials said the unit will be rotated after about 15 days and that broader aid offers await formal coordination with Venezuelan authorities to define access, scope and the move from rescue to reconstruction.