100 Venezuelan Deportees Missing After Hotel Collapse Turns Repatriation Into Tragedy

More than 100 Venezuelan nationals, recently deported from the United States, are feared dead or trapped beneath the rubble of a hotel that collapsed during the devastating twin earthquakes on June 24. The victims had arrived in Venezuela just hours before the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors struck, turning a repatriation centre into a site of national tragedy.

The deportees, a group of 146 individuals, including 19 women and seven children, had landed at Simón Bolívar International Airport following a flight from Miami.

Venezuelan authorities transported the group to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada in the coastal city of La Guaira for mandatory medical examinations and documentation processing. They were scheduled to return to their homes the following day. Instead, they became caught in the epicentre of Venezuela's most powerful seismic event in over a century. Although about 20 people managed to escape the rubble, most are believed to be dead or still missing.

Venezuela's Strongest Quake in More Than a Century

The twin earthquakes struck Venezuela's northern coast on the evening of 24 June. A magnitude 7.2 foreshock was followed by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock, the strongest to hit the country in 125 years.

The Venezuelan government has maintained tight control over reporting, focusing on positive developments. Experts remain sceptical, however. While the official death toll has now surpassed 1,700, with around 5,000 people injured, many believe the true number of casualties is significantly higher.

Rescue operations remain underway, including assistance from the US military, which is helping repair infrastructure in La Guaira to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Two dozen C-17 military transport aircraft are bringing supplies into the country each day.

The US has also deployed 300 first responders and committed more than $300 million (£226 million) in aid. It is unlikely, however, that the Trump administration will grant temporary humanitarian protection to Venezuelans affected by the disaster.

In fact, the US has recently resumed deportations to Venezuela following a 13-month pause in 2024. Since the administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan immigrants in October last year, hundreds have been deported every week, including 1,746 people in May alone.

Rescue Continues in the Face of Fading Hopes

As the search enters its seventh day, hopes of finding more survivors continue to fade. The widely recognised 'golden window', the first 72 hours after a major earthquake, when the chances of survival are highest, has long since passed.

'We want our family members, whatever condition they are in. We just want to be able to bury them,' said Luis Armando Dasilva, whose sister, Amanda Donizete, was among those trapped in the Hotel Santuario.

Others remain hopeful. Alonso Guanipa Toyo and his family are still searching for his 32-year-old brother, Víctor, who was detained in Texas earlier this month before being repatriated.

'The government is not doing anything,' he said. 'If there's not a corpse, there's no dead (person).'

For some families, the deportation had been expected to end in a joyful reunion. Daniel Nuñez, who had lived in the US for five years, called his mother, Oswalidez, shortly after his plane landed.

'In those four minutes he told me a lot of things—that we were going to live in Venezuela together, that we were going to keep going,' she recalled. 'That happiness lasted 30 minutes.'

'My biggest hope is that my son is still alive,' Oswalidez said. Then, in a more sombre tone, she added: 'At this point, we need help getting their bodies from under the rubble. We need their bodies.'

Search-and-rescue operations continue as the nation grapples with more than 430 recorded aftershocks. While the focus remains on recovery, the incident has highlighted the precarity of the repatriation process amid extreme climate and geological volatility.