Venezuelans deported from the U.S. were killed hours later in powerful quakes

[Dulcinea]

(NPR) The last time Georgelyss Montes saw her best friend Angelo Mejía Meléndez was four years ago, at a goodbye party before he left for the U.S.

"We were like, 'you are stupid for leaving us!" she joked.

Last week she got word he was coming home, unexpectedly, as a deportee. Mejía Meléndez was one of 146 Venezuelan nationals who landed in Caracas after being deported from the U.S. on Wednesday.

Passengers on that plane, which included women and children, were being processed in a guarded hotel in La Guaira, when powerful twin earthquakes struck, according to family members. The building they were in pancaked.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5875287/venezuela-deportees-us-quakes

[underpants]

1. More than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the US hours before the earthquakes are missing

MIAMI (AP) — More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday’s earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.

https://apnews.com/article/earthquake-venezuela-us-deportees-immigration-hotel-survived-783140c04b418de2308f548402ace9af

[littlemissmartypants]

2. I'm not sure that I could survive the level of pain and indignity that they have been suffering.

[Lovie777]

3. Unfortunate...................

R.I.P. for them and Valenzuela.

[malaise]

4. So sad

I wish I believed in karma