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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Disasters & Emergencies

Venezuelan migrants deported from US missing after earthquakes

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Ongoing story
  • Over 100 Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. are missing after earthquakes struck Venezuela.
  • Families are seeking answers from authorities, who have provided inconsistent information about the missing individuals.
  • The migrants arrived in Venezuela just before a double earthquake caused significant damage, trapping some at a processing hotel.

Families of over 100 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States are desperately searching for answers after the individuals went missing following a series of powerful earthquakes in Venezuela. The migrants arrived in the country on Wednesday, June 24, just hours before a double earthquake, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude, struck the nation.

Nobody has a clear answer about what is happening with the migrants who have not yet been found.

— Melany ToyoSpeaking to the press outside the morgue in Caracas while searching for her missing cousin.

Melany Toyo, a relative of one of the missing deportees, expressed frustration with the lack of clear information from authorities. "Nobody has a clear answer about what is happening with the migrants who have not yet been found," Toyo told reporters outside the Bello Monte morgue in Caracas. She was seeking information about her 32-year-old cousin, Víctor Guanipa Toyo.

"They are not giving truthful information. We come here seeking an answer because there is a mother at home who suffers and cries waiting for news of her son, two children waiting for their father, and we truly need an answer, whether he is alive or hospitalized," Toyo stated. She added that authorities have given conflicting accounts, with some suggesting 16 survivors or only female survivors.

They are not giving truthful information. We come here seeking an answer because there is a mother at home who suffers and cries waiting for news of her son, two children waiting for their father, and we truly need an answer, whether he is alive or hospitalized.

— Melany ToyoExpressing frustration with the authorities' lack of clear information regarding the missing migrants.

The group of over 100 repatriated migrants arrived in La Guaira on Wednesday. They were taken to a hotel for data processing before their release the following day. However, the double earthquake caused the hotel to collapse, trapping the migrants. Official figures report at least 1,943 deaths and 10,571 injuries from the earthquakes, but the number of missing persons remains unconfirmed.

The last and only communication we had with him was with his mother, telling her he had arrived in the country; that was the last I knew.

— Melany ToyoDescribing the last known contact with her cousin before the earthquake.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Nacional in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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