Only 12 of 146 deportees found after US flew them to Venezuela hours before earthquakes collapsed their hotel
Hours after arriving on a deportation flight from Miami, 146 Venezuelans were being held in a La Guaira hotel when two massive earthquakes struck, leaving only 12 survivors found so far.
A return that turned to tragedy
A deportation flight from Miami touched down at Simón Bolívar International Airport on the morning of 24 June, carrying 146 Venezuelans (120 men, 19 women, 7 children) back to their homeland under the US mass‑deportation programme. They were escorted by the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, a coastal state that serves as a detention and processing centre for returnees. Officials conducted medical exams and gathered identification data; the deportees were told they would be released the next day.
A video posted that morning showed the group undergoing entry procedures, visibly happy to be home.
Twin earthquakes bring the building down
Hours after their arrival, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck northern Venezuela, with La Guaira among the hardest‑hit areas. The hotel collapsed, trapping the newly returned migrants inside. Across the country the quakes killed at least 1,450 people (some government sources put the toll above 1,700) and injured more than 3,150. Five days later, rescue crews are still sifting through debris, but of the 146 deportees only 12 have been located alive.
- Total deportees
- 146
- Survivors found
- 12
Voices from the rubble
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, told the Associated Press she had been standing on a second‑floor balcony when the first tremor hit. “I started hearing ‘papa, papa, papapa,’ and I saw the women next to me start to fall. They were all screaming for help.” Almost immediately the second quake struck. Portillo managed to escape with about 20 others and walked five kilometres to a National Guard building. “I was born again; God gave me a second chance.”
An unnamed survivor described to EFE how he fell from the second floor and saw other deportees jumping from windows. Trapped under the wreckage, he heard people calling out numbers to check who was alive, a count that dwindled until he was the only one shouting “one.”
Another survivor, Joan, was saved when a bunk bed collapsed over him, the mattresses cushioning the impact. His wife Daniela told El País, “He is in shock.”
Families demand answers
Relatives accuse the Venezuelan authorities of negligence, alleging that the hotel doors were kept locked. Yulis Salcedo, the mother of 21‑year‑old Anderson Daniel Salcedo Lozano, said her son begged for the doors to be opened. “They left us locked up as if we were thieves, bandits,” she said. Her son is in critical condition after both legs were amputated.
Others recount surreal moments: the government called one sister to confirm her brother’s death, unaware that he was lying beside her in hospital. “It can’t be, he’s here with me,” she replied.
A deportation drive that continues
The deportees were part of President Donald Trump’s push for mass removals. ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 US deportation flights to 38 countries in May alone, including 12 to Venezuela. Flights to Caracas resumed in February 2025 after a 13‑month suspension. The returnees were processed under the “Misión Vuelta a la Patria” programme, which has handled deportees from the US since 2025.
