Venezuelan deportees trapped after earthquakes hit hotel near airport

A deportation flight from Miami delivered 146 Venezuelans to Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira hours before twin earthquakes, measured at 7.2 and 7.5, tore through the coastal area and collapsed the building. Families say some of the deportees are dead, others remain missing.

ICE Flight Monitor recorded a plane carrying 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children. The deportees landed on June 24 and were later sent to the hotel in Macuto, where they were being processed and waiting for onward transport home. SEBIN transported the deportees from the airport to the hotel, which was being managed by the Fundación Negra Hipólita.

Families in Venezuela and the United States said many of those on board had spent years living in the U.S., some while seeking asylum and others while building lives in places such as Tennessee, Texas, Fort Worth and New Jersey. One Tennessee family said a relative was detained at an ICE check-in before being deported.

Survivors said at least about 20 deportees escaped the collapsed hotel and walked about 5 kilometers seeking help. Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she made it out with about 20 other people after being told they would go home the next day. Witnesses heard voices from the rubble, several women and children got out, and injured people were taken to Hospital Vargas.

Relatives have been unable to reach the collapsed building freely, complicating rescue and identification efforts. Some deportees have died and others are still unaccounted for as rescue crews continue searching La Guaira. Venezuelan officials put the national earthquake death toll past 1,700 and said it is still rising.