More than 100 Venezuelans recently deported from the United States are missing after a hotel collapsed during a series of earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela. The earthquakes, which struck on Wednesday, included a 7.2 and a 7.5 magnitude tremor, causing widespread destruction. The hotel, where the deportees were being held, collapsed, burying many under the rubble.
Deportation Flight and Hotel Stay
A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before the earthquakes. Onboard were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First that tracks deportation flights. They were transported to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada in La Guaira, one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquakes.
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, a survivor, said she escaped the rubble with about 20 other deportees. They walked the streets seeking help, encountering people running, some naked and others barefoot, emerging from the debris. “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. They eventually reached a national guard building and were able to call relatives. “I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” said Portillo. “I am traumatized,” she added, weeping.
Government Response and Search Efforts
The Venezuelan government reported more than 1,700 people killed in the earthquakes. Search and rescue teams are working to find survivors and recover bodies from the collapsed hotel. A video posted on social media by the Venezuelan government showed deportees being received by authorities at the Caracas airport on Wednesday.
Portillo said the government took them to the hotel for medical exams and identification documents, telling them they would go home the next day. She was staying on the second floor with 16 other women. She stepped onto a balcony and saw the sky turn black and felt intense heat. Returning to her room, she lay on a bed and felt shaking. “I started hearing, ‘Papa, papa papapa,’ and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she said, describing the earthquake sounds. “They were all screaming for help.” Almost immediately, the second earthquake struck. “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,” said Portillo, who has bruises all over her body.
Other Survivors and Family Searches
Jenny Rodriguez, 24, told Telemundo that she was on the 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.”
Liliana Rojas told Telemundo she has been trying to locate her 33-year-old partner. The detention center where he was held in El Paso, Texas, only confirmed that he was deported. “No one is giving an answer about anything,” Rojas said.
US Deportation Context
Portillo was caught up in the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations. In May, ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 deportation flights to 38 countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, and Côte d’Ivoire. The US ran 12 deportation flights to Venezuela in May, operating three days a week, according to ICE Flight Monitor. Deportation flights to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after a 13-month pause.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for information from the AP.
