Venezuela: a group of people deported from the United States are among the dead
They had been deported from the United States and had landed at Maiquetía Airport just a few hours earlier. The earthquake levelled the hotel where they had been accommodated. Only 12 of the 147 survived. The families are condemning the silence from Caracas
Key points
They had left the United States as deportees and died under the rubble of a hotel in La Guaira. A group of around 145 Venezuelans repatriated by the Trump administration had been in Venezuela for just a few hours when the earthquake struck the country’s northern coast. Twelve people emerged alive from the hotel where they had been accommodated by the state authorities whilst awaiting the completion of the bureaucratic formalities.
The earthquake
This incident took place against the backdrop of the worst earthquake to hit Venezuela in over a century. On 24 June, two tremors in quick succession — measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale — struck the north of the country just a few minutes apart.
There are also minors in the group
The group of deportees — around 125 men and about 20 women, including seven minors — had arrived on a flight from Miami at Simón Bolívar Airport in Maiquetía, a few kilometres from the epicentre. The Venezuelan authorities had transferred them to the Hotel Sanitario La Llanada, a facility run by the Misión Hipólita Foundation, a body affiliated with the Caracas government, whilst they awaited regularisation procedures. The hotel collapsed along with dozens of other buildings in the area.
The complaint lodged by the families of the deportees
The families of those deported report that they have received no official information regarding the bodies of their loved ones and are calling for rescue teams to be sent urgently. The Venezuelan authorities have not published any lists of victims or a specific death toll for this group. For the time being, the only accounts available are those of the rescue workers and the relatives of the twelve survivors.
This incident forms part of a political landscape already marked by deep-seated tensions between Washington and Caracas. In January 2026, a US military operation had led to the arrest and deportation of President Nicolás Maduro, ushering in a transitional period led by interim President Delcy Rodríguez.
