Earthquake hits Venezuelan deportees housed in La Guaira hotel

More than 100 Venezuelans just deported from the United States were inside Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira when earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck. The deportation flight from Miami had arrived only hours earlier with 146 people aboard, including 19 women and seven children, and the hotel had been used as a processing point where deportees received medical exams and identification documents before being told they would go home the next day.

Among the missing is José Rafael Rossi Ydrogo, who was deported after an ICE check-in even though a judge was supposed to review his case, his wife, Enit Hernández, said. Rossi Ydrogo owned a construction business in Fort Worth, Texas, and had lived in the United States with his family before moving to Texas. Hernández said he last called his brother in Caracas 20 minutes before the ground started to shake. In another family account, a young man who was killed had planned a reunion with his mother.

One survivor, Lisbeth Portillo, said she escaped the collapsing hotel with about 20 other deportees and walked about five kilometers to find help. She said the group had been told they would leave for home the next day, before the building gave way around them. Portillo later said, “I was born again; God gave me a second chance.” Access to the collapsed building remains restricted.

La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, sits beside Simón Bolívar International Airport, the country’s main airport. By June 29, 2026, at least 1,719 people had died and 5,034 had been injured. Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, the UN resident coordinator in Venezuela, said at least 2,500 structures were affected and that the United Nations was procuring 10,000 body bags. U.S. officials said three Americans were dead and 12 were missing, and more than 300 U.S. search-and-rescue personnel were operating in Venezuela.