ADN has accused the Government of the Republic of stopping Madeira from sending an emergency response team to Venezuela after the devastating earthquake. The party said 18 Madeiran operatives, including firefighters and an EMIR doctor, were ready to leave within 24 hours. It added that the group had training in urban search and rescue in collapsed buildings, including specialist instruction at the Academy of Chilean Firefighters. ADN also said the team was fully self-sufficient and prepared for a 12-day mission, but remained on the ground because the decision was not made in Madeira. The statement pointed to comments by the President of the Regional Civil Protection Service of Madeira, who said: “It is not for us to decide the deployment.” ADN argues that this shows the limits of Madeira’s autonomy, since the Region has the personnel and equipment but not the power to deploy its own teams abroad. The party says the Autonomous Regions should be able to mobilise civil protection resources for international humanitarian missions without waiting for authorisation from Lisbon, which it claims can come too late or not at all.
