A high-rise block in central Caracas has pancaked. The footage is grim. Dust, screams, and a failing state unable to cope. This is not a drill.
Sources in Whitehall confirm HMS Medway, the Royal Navy's offshore patrol vessel currently docked in the Caribbean, is being readied for a humanitarian mission. The question is not 'if' but 'when' the green light comes. Downing Street is wary. A full-scale aid operation would mean co-operating with Maduro's regime. That is a political minefield. Backbenchers are already restless. 'We cannot be seen to prop up a dictator,' one Tory MP told me. But the optics of doing nothing are worse.
The collapse, caught on multiple phones, shows a 15-storey structure folding in on itself. Casualty numbers are unclear. Likely hundreds dead. The Venezuelan government, predictably, blames 'US economic sabotage.' A tired script.
HMS Medway has a Merlin helicopter on board. It can deliver supplies. It can evacuate the wounded. But it is not a hospital ship. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is stretched thin. Any significant deployment would require a political decision at the highest level. The Prime Minister is due to speak with President Biden tonight. Expect a joint statement.
This is a test. Of Britain's naval capability. Of its moral compass. And of its willingness to step into a geopolitical hornet's nest. The Palace of Westminster is watching. Caracas is burning.
More to follow.
