Devastated by earthquake and looted, Bodegón El Litoral refuses to die

In Catia La Mar, Venezuela, along Avenida Atlántida, stands Bodegón El Litoral, a business born during the pandemic that now faces an existential battle. An earthquake severely damaged its structure, and subsequent looting left it nearly empty. Despite these devastating blows, the bodega is one of the few businesses in La Guaira still operating, thanks to the resilience of its owner and staff.

On June 24, 2026, owner Sergio Tovar was in the annex where he lived behind the business when a powerful seismic doublet struck La Guaira. He witnessed his home collapse and helped a neighbor rescue a child from a nearby destroyed house, but falling debris forced him to abandon the site. The rear of the establishment, his residence, was destroyed.

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I had to open; they took all the merchandise, it was vandalism. I had corn flour, pasta, sardines. They left me nothing, but at least they didn't destroy things. It's little by little. Starting again.

In the week following the earthquake, the bodega was looted. Harold Tovar, Sergio's brother, described the scene: "I had to open; they took all the merchandise, it was vandalism. I had corn flour, pasta, sardines. They left me nothing, but at least they didn't destroy things. It's little by little. Starting again."

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Well, we took the measure of staying here to avoid vandalism. Why? To prevent them from, for example, breaking the door, because in this situation, maybe one doesn't even have money for a hinge to fix it. As I told the workers: I have a mattress, but it's not full of money, it's full of dust and rubble.

Starting again became the immediate focus for the owners and workers. Sergio Tovar's first step was to bring a mattress to the bodega and resume sleeping there, a measure he had stopped after the earthquake but deemed necessary to prevent further theft. "Well, we took the measure of staying here to avoid vandalism," he explained. "Why? To prevent them from, for example, breaking the door, because in this situation, maybe one doesn't even have money for a hinge to fix it. As I told the workers: I have a mattress, but it's not full of money, it's full of dust and rubble."

Bodegón El Litoral, which once housed a nightclub, is slowly regaining its form. Reopening is not a new challenge for Sergio. Just two months before the earthquake, economic contraction and intense competition forced him to close the business's nighttime section, resulting in weekly losses of $3,500. The earthquake was not the year's first setback, but it was the most devastating. "The problem is that there were like four nightclubs here, so there isn't enough market for that many. We had to close the disco," he said. The empanada stand was the first to reactivate, located right at the entrance.

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The problem is that there were like four nightclubs here, so there isn't enough market for that many. We had to close the disco.