YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Thick clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky on the outskirts of Myanmar's largest city Friday as authorities burned more than 50 tons of heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth — some $600 million of confiscated illegal drugs destroyed nationwide.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has a long history of drug production linked to political and economic insecurity caused by decades of armed conflict.
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A police officer explains about illegal narcotics to attendees during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Police officers explain about illegal narcotics to attendees during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
A police officer stands in front of seized illegal narcotics during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Firefighters spray water in front of illegal narcotics being burnt during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Smoke and flame rise from burning illegal narcotics during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
It has been a major source of illegal drugs destined for East and Southeast Asia, despite repeated efforts to crack down, and has long been one of the world's largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine.
Violent political unrest in Myanmar following the military takeover in 2021 — which has led into a civil war between the military government and its pro-democracy opponents, as well as ethnic armed groups — has caused an increase in drug production, according to experts.
In January, the military government claimed the country’s largest-ever seizures of illicit drugs and drug-manufacturing equipment, taken from a total of 12 drug production sites during a series of raids in the northern part of Shan state.
This year, the street value of drugs destroyed was more than double last year's total, Police Lt. Col. Aung Myat Soe, of Yangon's Anti-Narcotics Police Force, told reporters at a bus station compound on the edge of the city where drugs were being burned.
In Yangon alone, some $321 million worth of 31 different types of drugs were set ablaze, Aung Myat Soe said.
Events were also held in Mandalay, and in Taunggyi, the capital of eastern Myanmar’s Shan state — areas closer to where the drugs are produced — to mark the United Nations' International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Many areas of Myanmar are controlled by long-established militias organized by the country's various ethnic groups, many of which are involved in fighting against the military-run government in a bloody civil war, alongside pro-democracy groups that sprang up after the military seized control of the country from democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
In elections that concluded earlier this year, which international observers said were neither free nor fair with major opposition groups banned, the military leaders won a landslide victory.
The government claims the country's militias use illicit drugs to fund their insurgencies and are unwilling to engage in any peace process because they do not want to give up the lucrative drug trade.
Some groups are known to be involved in the drug trade currently and in the past, but others also have sought to crack down on narcotics.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, for example, which captured significant swaths of the northern part of Shan state in the civil war before signing a ceasefire in October with the military, announced Thursday that it would destroy about $5.5 million worth of seized drugs in the group’s controlled-area.
A police officer explains about illegal narcotics to attendees during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Police officers explain about illegal narcotics to attendees during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
A police officer stands in front of seized illegal narcotics during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Firefighters spray water in front of illegal narcotics being burnt during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Smoke and flame rise from burning illegal narcotics during a destruction ceremony marking the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — In cities across northern Venezuela, neighbors helped each other dig through rubble to search for loved ones on Thursday after back-to-back earthquakes that officials say killed more than 230 people and left thousands injured the night before.
The official death toll rose to around 235 late Thursday, with at least 4,300 people injured, Venezuela Health Minister Carlos Alvarado told state media. The number of casualties is expected to climb with thousands reported missing and frantic rescue efforts continuing.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and was felt throughout the region.
The injured were pulled out covered in dust and blood, among them children and animals. Venezuelan state TV showed dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab with only a bare foot poking out before rescuers slid her out alive. But few government search teams were initially seen outside Caracas.
The coastal region of La Guaira, north of the capital Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country’s main airport is there and was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts.
Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead. Buildings were flattened and streets cracked open.
Families posted missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched. Venezuelans abroad struggled to make contact with relatives due to interrupted phone service in the country.
In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.
Mother of three Dayana Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised and said residents were the ones digging through crumpled buildings.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said of her missing 8-year-old son.
One mother sobbed and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others screamed the names of the missing. Some stood in silent shock.
Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1999 mudslide killed thousands and is considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.
“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”
Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.
“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” Mendaño said. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
The natural disaster is the latest challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal from power of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for damaged hospitals and homes.
She appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.
“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” Rodríguez said.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas.
The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.
“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira said.
Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela called on the government to lift social media restrictions so people can get potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X. The site had been blocked by Maduro since August 2024 in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential election.
Leaders from Mexico, Qatar, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Canada vowed to send aid. A number of shipments were already on the way Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States was immediately deploying assistance, though he acknowledged the closure of Venezuela’s main airport created logistical challenges.
“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Rubio said.
Rescue teams from Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic arrived in Venezuela on Thursday, along with an aid flight from Mexico.
“No country is prepared to provide the response that’s needed. That’s what neighboring countries are there for,” Dominican Air Force Major Carlos Olivares said.
The Venezuelan diaspora also was helping. In Ecuador, Félix Rodríguez said his store was receiving donations from his fellow Venezuelans as well as Ecuadorians.
“My business is always ready for whatever Venezuela needs,” he said.
Gabby Graham said she regularly sends money from Spokane, Washington, to Venezuela using a peer-to-peer payment to a local business that gives cash to her family. But since the earthquakes they can't locate the business owner and she is unable to share funds for food, water, medication and toiletries.
“I think it hasn’t been easy for them for years. Just now it’s just even worse because it’s about finding these things,” Graham said.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Gabriela Molina in Quito, Ecuador, Regina Garcia Cano in Bogota, Colombia, Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Anna-Catherine Brigida and India Grant in Mexico City, Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Alexandra Olson in New York, Julie Watson in San Diego and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
People attend a mass to honor the victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A man walks over the fallen walls of his home in Moron, near the epicenter of two earthquakes that struck Venezuela the day before, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacinto Oliveros)
Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
People camp in the street the night after the earthquake struck Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Neighbors carry a man rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building the day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
