More than a hundred Venezuelans deported from the US remain missing after their hotel collapsed due to the earthquakes

The assessment of the damage following the powerful earthquakes that shook Venezuela has revealed a specific humanitarian crisis with highly complex logistical challenges in La Guaira state, one of the regions hardest hit by the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes.

According to survivor accounts and flight records, more than 100 Venezuelan citizens who had been deported from the United States just hours before the disaster are currently missing under the rubble of a hotel where they were being held in government custody.

The group, consisting of 146 people—including 19 women and 7 children—arrived on a repatriation flight from Miami.

According to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of the organization Human Rights First, this operation was part of the regular deportation flights to the South American country, which had resumed in full force in February 2025 following a 13-month hiatus.

Upon arrival, local authorities transferred them to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada for medical examinations and documentation procedures.

Stories of Survival and the Collapse of State Infrastructure

Testimonies gathered by networks such as Telemundo reveal the harsh reality of the event and the vulnerability in which the returnees found themselves.

Lisbeth Portillo, a 58-year-old survivor who was on the second floor of the building, recounted the moments of the impact of the twin earthquakes. After initially being trapped under a beam, she managed to free herself as the debris shifted due to successive aftershocks.

Portillo recounted that she managed to escape along with about 20 deportees, walking nearly five kilometers amid a total communications blackout until they reached a National Guard facility. “I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” she said through tears after managing to contact her loved ones.

Another passenger on the flight, 24-year-old Jenny Rodríguez, confirmed that she had to be rescued from the building’s rubble after managing to free one hand from the destroyed structure and call for help from a fellow passenger.

Institutional Opacity and Family Despair

Although the Venezuelan government puts the nationwide death toll at over 1,700 people, the families of those deported denounce a complete lack of information regarding the list of survivors and victims at the state-controlled hotel facilities.

Liliana Rojas, the partner of one of the 33-year-old citizens who was traveling on that plane, reported that U.S. authorities in El Paso, Texas, only confirmed that the transfer had taken place, while in Venezuela no entity is providing official figures on the missing. “No one is giving an answer about anything,” she stated.

For its part, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not issue any immediate statements in response to the Associated Press (AP )'s requests for information regarding the status and identities of the affected passengers.