Venezuelan families demand answers two months after deportees vanished in earthquake-hit building

Two months after a devastating earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, families of the nation's deportees from the United States are still seeking answers from the Venezuelan state. The deportees were housed in a building that collapsed during the seismic event, leaving an unknown number of casualties.

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We come to deliver this document, these requests to the Vuelta a la Patria mission, we want answers.

Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez and Luz Marina Meléndez, mothers of Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez and Angelo David Mejías Meléndez respectively, submitted a written request to the "Vuelta a la Patria" mission. They demand information on the whereabouts of the flight's passengers and details on the procedures applied after their arrival in Venezuela.

Flight 164, carrying 146 Venezuelan deportees from the U.S., landed in Maiquetía hours before the earthquakes. The passengers were then transferred to the Santuario La Llanada hotel, a building used by authorities to house deportees during verification. The building's collapse turned the flight into a source of anguish for families, who have yet to receive an official list detailing how many passengers died, survived, or remain missing.

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I searched for my son for five days, finally I managed to identify him in this place by his tattoos.

Núñez Ramírez recounted her five-day search for her son, navigating hospitals, morgues, and various locations. She stated that officials initially told her he was rescued alive, only for her to identify him by his tattoos in a makeshift morgue days later. She questioned the protocols followed for deportees upon arrival, emphasizing her son had no criminal record in either country. The lack of transparency and the fate of the passengers remain a critical concern for the families.

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Where is the protocol? Where is the deportation and repatriation procedure between the United States and Venezuela?