• 2 min de lectura
• 2 min de lectura
A U.S. congressman is urging the Trump administration to deploy one of the Navy's two hospital ships to Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes that have killed more than 1,400 people and overwhelmed the country's already fragile healthcare system.
Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for the deployment of either the hospital ship USNS Comfort or USNS Mercy to support the humanitarian response.
"The earthquakes have killed over a thousand people and injured thousands more, with thousands more people unaccounted for. The USNS Comfort and Mercy can save lives," Moskowitz said.
In his letter, Moskowitz said the Navy's hospital ships are uniquely suited to provide advanced surgical care, emergency medicine, intensive care, diagnostic services, and inpatient treatment while also serving as platforms for coordinating broader humanitarian relief efforts. He pointed to the deployment of USNS Comfort following Haiti's 2010 earthquake as a successful example of the ships' disaster response capabilities.
The request comes as questions remain about the availability of the Navy's two hospital ships.
gCaptain previously reported that USNS Mercy arrived at Vigor Shipyard in Portland, Oregon, in March for a scheduled multi-month maintenance availability after completing a transit from the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, sister ship USNS Comfort has remained at Alabama Shipyard undergoing its own maintenance period. The operational status of either vessel has not been publicly updated, raising uncertainty over whether one could be activated quickly for a humanitarian deployment.
Moskowitz acknowledged that any deployment would require coordination with the Venezuelan government, international humanitarian organizations, and regional partners but argued the scale of the disaster warrants the use of one of the Navy's floating hospitals.
The letter comes as U.S. military assets are already participating in rescue efforts following last week's powerful seismic doublet, which caused widespread destruction across northern Venezuela and left thousands injured or missing.
