More than 140 Venezuelan nationals, recently deported from the United States, are feared to be among the thousands missing following devastating twin earthquakes that struck their home country last month. The deportees, who arrived on Flight 164 on 24th June, were reportedly housed in a hotel near the coast in La Guaira when the seismic events occurred just hours later, leaving a trail of destruction and widespread casualties.
Among those unaccounted for is 23-year-old Abelardo Rincón, who had built a life in Georgia, USA, for six years before his detention and subsequent deportation. His pregnant wife and parents in Atlanta are now grappling with the news of his disappearance. Rincón had managed to contact his family upon landing, informing them he was in state custody at a hotel, just before the earthquakes hit. His grandfather, Jose Rincón, has since embarked on a desperate search, examining numerous bodies in morgues and attempting to access the destroyed hotel site, only to be turned away by authorities who stated there was 'no life' left there.
The earthquakes have claimed at least 2,200 lives and injured over 10,000, with UN figures indicating 50,000 people are missing. The area where the deportees were staying, the Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, was particularly hard hit, suffering extensive damage and collapsed buildings. The flight reportedly included 19 women and seven children, all of whom had undergone medical examinations and documentation processing by Venezuelan authorities upon arrival.
Other families are facing similar anguish. Darwin Eliecer Serrano Lopez, 35, who had lived in the US for four years, called a cousin to confirm his return just half an hour before the first quake struck. His family has been searching for nearly a week, with his cousin Paola Chacón expressing a grim resignation to his probable death, vowing to remain until his body can be brought home. Daniel Alejandro Nunez, 28, also contacted his mother upon his return, and his family is now struggling with conflicting reports amidst their search efforts.
The US Department of Homeland Security, responsible for immigration enforcement, issued a statement confirming the flight safely reached Venezuela and all individuals were returned. However, a spokesperson added that once an individual is no longer in ICE custody, the agency is no longer responsible for them, offering no further details on the specific cases. The Venezuelan government has provided contact numbers for the public but information remains limited due to the scale of the national disaster.
This tragic sequence of events highlights the severe human cost of immigration policies coupled with natural disasters, leaving families caught in a relentless cycle of uncertainty and grief across continents.