Venezuela earthquake death toll reaches 1,719, with more than 50,000 missing and criticism mounting over state response
Five days after two powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela, the official death count has surpassed 1,700, while over 50,000 people remain unaccounted for as rescue teams face growing frustration with the government's handling of the crisis.
Death toll climbs
Official figures released by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, placed the number of dead at 1,719 on June 29, with 5,034 injured. Among the victims were at least 56 Portuguese nationals and luso‑descendants, including eight children, though some reports put that figure as high as 60. Authorities did not give a tally of the missing, but an unofficial registry cited by the EFE news agency estimated 68,900 people unaccounted for. The government decreed a week without classes and launched building inspections, color‑coding structures yellow, blue, or red according to danger.
Rescue efforts and on‑the‑ground reality
International teams from Peru, El Salvador, and Venezuela worked around the clock. Aaron Vargas, a 21‑year‑old trapped in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, was pulled alive after a 43‑hour operation. Earlier, 60‑year‑old Belkys Barreto survived 86 hours buried in a 15‑story building. Still, the window to find survivors was narrowing.
There are more guns than shovels. Unfortunately, that has been the help from the state, from the Executive, which limited itself to putting obstacles through the military, instead of providing timely help with machinery and essential things like an angle grinder to cut steel bars, like drills, like rotary hammers… that did not come and is sorely missed.
- Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 strike Venezuela, causing widespread destruction.
- Belkys Barreto, 60, rescued after 86 hours trapped in a 15‑story building.
- A magnitude 4.6 aftershock shakes La Guaira and Caracas.
- Official death toll updated to 1,719; 5,034 injured; over 50,000 missing.
- Aaron Vargas, 21, pulled alive from rubble in Caraballeda after 43‑hour operation.
Devastation in La Guaira
The coastal state of La Guaira was among the hardest hit. Drone footage showed entire neighborhoods where no building remained standing. Francis Martín, a 24‑year‑old who escaped with her mother, described the scene to EFE.
President Delcy Rodríguez announced that 75% of electricity had been restored and 90% of roads were passable, but the claim was met with derision from locals who said police and the National Guard had done little but pose for photographs.There is nothing, there is nothing for us down there, a city where you cannot live, where there is no water, no light, no buildings, no supermarket, no hospital, nothing.
Portuguese community hit hard
Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel warned that the number of Portuguese nationals who had “lost absolutely everything” ran into the thousands. Portugal’s community in Venezuela numbers around 220,000 citizens plus 300,000–350,000 luso‑descendants. The government initially allocated €400,000 for humanitarian projects and an additional €257,000 to Portuguese associations on the ground, with a pledge to open an official donation account to guard against fraud.
Rangel clarified that Portugal was not organizing repatriations; 17 citizens who had been trapped in the country were set to fly home on an Air Force plane returning from a cargo mission.The number of Portuguese nationals who have lost everything is really very large.
International response
China pledged €13 million in aid, with the possibility of more later. El Salvador’s president shared rescue videos on social media. Deposed former president Nicolás Maduro, speaking from detention but active online, thanked the international community for its support during what he called one of Venezuela’s most painful moments.
