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Deportation, then Quakes
A deportation flight from the United States carrying 146 Venezuelans arrived in Venezuela and, hours later, twin earthquakes struck, triggering a scramble to find survivors and bodies under rubble in La Guaira.
“twin earthquakes hit the country - killing at least 2,200 people”
The BBC described how Abelardo Rincón, detained by U.S. authorities amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, was put on a deportation flight to Venezuela last month alongside more than 140 other Venezuelans, and landed on 24 June before the earthquakes hit.
The BBC reported that the earthquakes killed at least 2,200 people, injuring more than 10,000, and left 50,000 missing, while Rincón and other deportees from Flight 164 were among those missing.
In La Guaira, Radio-Canada said the deportees were taken to a hotel and that a deportation flight from Miami arrived a few hours before the earthquakes, with 146 Venezuelans on board including 19 women and 7 children, according to ICE Flight Monitor.
Radio-Canada added that witnesses said they were held in a hotel when the shaking began, and Lisbeth Portillo described escaping the hotel's rubble with about twenty other deportees as they searched for help.
A Mother’s Search
Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez, described by Univision as searching hospitals and care centers in Venezuela for her son Daniel Alejandro Nuñez Ramirez, said he had been repatriated on a flight from Texas and was staying in a hotel that collapsed after the earthquake.
Univision reported that she said, “Tenía ocho años y medio que no veía a mi hijo, que no lo abrazaba,” and she added that she had not received official information about his whereabouts for days.
The Spokesman-Review reported that after an intense five-day search Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez found her son dead, and it said an officer with the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, identified only as Jonathan, told her he rescued Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez from the rubble of the Santuario La Llanada hotel.
The Spokesman-Review quoted her saying, “A slab from the building fell on my son when the structure collapsed. He died instantly. What hurts me most is that they told me he had been rescued alive.”
The Spokesman-Review also said she paid $700 to have him cremated quickly to ensure she received the correct remains, and it quoted her describing officials offering “free cremation services” while warning that if she did not want it done quickly they could give her “any ashes.”
What’s at Risk Next
The BBC said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told it, “This flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home,” and that once someone is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible.
““This flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home,””
In the same BBC account, the paper said Venezuelan authorities housed deportation-flight passengers in Hotel Santuario La Llanada in the city of La Guaira after medical exams and documentation, while information was limited in the wake of the disaster.
Radio-Canada reported that the Venezuelan government posted numbers for the general public to call, but that information remained limited, as witnesses described being unable to communicate and searching for help after the hotel collapsed.
The Spokesman-Review described how Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez’s ordeal continued after her son’s death, including the need to clear paperwork quickly because the medical examiner warned that otherwise the body could be lost during identification.
It also said the last time she spoke with her son was on June 24, just 50 minutes before the twin earthquakes, and that the group arrived in Venezuela on a flight with 146 migrants deported from the U.S. through the government program Vuelta a la Patria.
