U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Cabrera reported that the Trump administration mobilized personnel and humanitarian assistance within a day of the 7.7 earthquake that struck the Latin American nation on October 9, emphasizing that help arrived without using the disastrous United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“When time gets tough, America shows up,” Cabrera told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle over the weekend.
After the earthquake rocked the small nation in between Colombia and Costa Rica, Cabrera said the U.S. sent in 20 Urban Search and Rescue (USR) personnel “in less than 24 hours.” While there has been just one reported death as a result of the earthquake, authorities said at least 27 people were injured and more than 400 buildings were damaged.
The USR personnel were sent “at Panama’s request” to help determine whether evacuees could safely return to buildings, the ambassador explained.
In addition to providing emergency workers, President Donald Trump approved $5 million in humanitarian assistance.
“We’ve gotten them over 2,500 blankets, 2,900 mosquito nets, 750 tarps, 200 family tents, 1200 kitchen sets, 500 sleeping mats,” Cabrera listed. “All of these things to help over 12,000 people that have been affected.”
To help mobilize all of this help and material, the U.S. also repurposed helicopters that were already in Panama working with local authorities on narcotics missions.
“We were able to turn those into an air bridge to move personnel, to move humanitarian assistance from the city to those areas that were affected,” the ambassador recounted. “So again, we were able to put helicopters at their disposal, personnel at their disposal, in addition to providing $5 million worth of humanitarian assistance.”
Cabrera also argued that the U.S. response to the earthquake is evidence that the Trump administration proved they can effectively aid in disaster situations without USAID, which the president had dissolved and absorbed into the State Department.
“You know, a lot of folks said when we dissolved USAID, ‘How are we going to respond? How are we going to show up for our friends and allies when times get tough?’” the ambassador said. “And I can tell you that what we’ve seen in all of these different situations [in] Jamaica, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, that we’ve been able to respond and we’ve been very effective while being focused on the things that matter.”
According to Cabrera, USAID was “focused on DEI and genders and all sorts of odd things, as opposed to having policies that were aligned with our president [and] with our secretary of state.”
Looking ahead, Cabrera identified damaged roads and bridges as an obstacle to get over for Panama to recover from the earthquake.
“So now comes the part of trying to help with reconnecting communities, right? To make sure that you can travel out there, whether it be by road — wherever you may be going… to get these bridges and roads repaired.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
