More than 100 Venezuelans deported from the United States were staying at a hotel in La Guaira when powerful earthquakes struck shortly after their arrival, trapping many under collapsed structures.
The deportees had arrived on a flight from Miami and were being processed before returning home, while some families later said they were still unable to locate relatives after the earthquakes.
More than 100 Venezuelans deported from the United States were staying at a hotel in Venezuela when powerful earthquakes struck the country, leaving survivors searching through rubble for missing people and bodies.
A deportation flight from Miami landed in Venezuela just hours before Wednesday’s earthquakes. According to ICE Flight Monitor, a Human Rights First initiative that tracks deportation flights, 146 Venezuelans were on board, including 19 women and seven children. After arriving, they were taken to a hotel in La Guaira.
The hotel later became one of the sites affected by the twin earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude.
Among the survivors was 58-year-old Lisbeth Portillo, who said she escaped the collapsed building alongside around 20 other deportees and walked through damaged streets searching for help.
“We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication,” Portillo said in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo.
She described scenes of chaos, with people emerging from the rubble, some barefoot and others without clothing.
The group eventually reached a National Guard facility where they were able to contact relatives.
“I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” Portillo said. “I am traumatized,” she added after breaking down in tears.
The Venezuelan government has said more than 1,700 people were killed in the earthquakes.
Portillo had been deported under the Trump administration’s immigration programme. ICE Flight Monitor recorded 288 deportation flights to 38 countries in May, including 12 flights to Venezuela. Deportations to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after a 13-month suspension.
According to Portillo, deportees were transported to Hotel Santuario La Llanada after landing, where authorities conducted medical checks and issued identification documents before they were expected to return home.
Portillo said she was sharing a second-floor room with 16 other women when the earthquake struck.
She recalled stepping onto a balcony overlooking the sea and noticing dark skies and intense heat before returning to her room.
“I started hearing ‘papa, papa papapa,’, and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she said, describing the moment the quake hit. “They were all screaming for help.”
Moments later, a second earthquake followed.
“I fall and end up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried and I was able to get out,” Portillo said. She said she suffered bruising across her body.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Video shared by the Venezuelan government showed deportees arriving at Caracas airport and being received by officials before being transferred.
Another survivor, 24-year-old Jenny Rodriguez, told Telemundo she had also been on the deportation flight and taken to the hotel.
“I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help”, she said. “Thanks to God — and to him — I was able to get out of there.”
(AP reported)
