Mother searches for missing son the U.S. deported to Venezuela shortly before earthquakes

Venezuela admin June 29, 2026 0 Comments

Mother searches for missing son the U.S. deported to Venezuela shortly before earthquakes

For five days Oswadeliz Núñez Ramírez has been frantically searching for her son across hospitals in La Guaira and Caracas. He was among 146 migrants deported from the United States who arrived in Venezuela on the very day two powerful earthquakes struck the country.

A member of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service who identified himself only as “Jonathan” told Núñez Ramírez that he had personally pulled her 28-year-old son, Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez, from the rubble of the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, which collapsed during the tremors.

Yet, five days later, her son’s whereabouts remain a mystery. Skeptical of the official account, his mother has searched every hospital, clinic, and sector of La Guaira and Caracas without success.

“He’s nowhere to be found,” she said.

Speaking to the Miami Herald from the Caracas morgue—one of many stops in her desperate hunt for her son — Núñez Ramírez wept as she described her ordeal. “I am here trying to see if my son is here, because I don’t know where he is.”

Fátima Gabriela Núñez, Daniel’s cousin, noted that the area surrounding the hotel is currently under intelligence service guard, preventing families from entering to assist in search efforts or get information.

She lashed out at the Venezuelan government, saying, “As in so many other instances, they are mocking the public.” She described the treatment of the families of those aboard the flight from Texas as inhumane.

“They reported that rescue teams were working in the zone, and they even told my aunt that my cousin had been rescued and to look for him in the hospitals. That information was completely false,” she said. She added that her family has scoured every hospital and morgue in Caracas and La Guaira, but her cousin remains missing. “It was false information that only increased our anguish.”

A final call

The last time Núñez Ramírez spoke with her son was on June 24, just 50 minutes before the twin earthquakes—which, according to figures released Monday by National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, have left at least 1,719 dead, 5,034 injured, and 15,866 displaced from their homes.

That same day, Daniel Alejandro Núñez Ramírez arrived in Venezuela on a flight with 146 migrants deported from the U.S. through the government program Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland). The plane landed at 12:30 p.m. at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía near Caracas.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Flight Monitor, a project by Human Rights First, confirmed to the Herald that the flight was operated by ICE Air and chartered by Global X. It departed from Phoenix, Arizona, with stops in El Paso, Texas, and Miami before arriving in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government announced the group’s arrival via the Vuelta a la Patria Instagram account. The official message noted that 146 passengers had arrived —including 120 men, 19 women, 5 boys, and 2 girls—and claimed they were welcomed with “dignity” and had followed “all necessary protocols to ensure a happy reunion in our nation.”

Núñez Ramírez said she learned of her son’s arrival, who had been living in Jacksonville, at 5:25 p.m. that same day.

“I only found out because an official gave him a phone, and he was able to notify me. Otherwise, I would never have spoken to my son again,” she said.

Daniel did not get a chance to tell her exactly where he was located. Shortly after, the earthquakes struck.

Eight-hour drive

It was only later that she learned several of the deportees had been transferred to the Hotel Santuario after landing. She set out the day after the earthquakes from El Tigre, in Anzoátegui state, northeastern Venezuela—about an eight-hour drive from La Guaira.

“When I arrived, the first thing I did was go to the hospitals. Then I went to the Hotel Santuario,” she said.

The hotel had almost completely collapsed, she said. She claims the few survivors, around a dozen people, managed to save themselves because some were able to pull themselves out from under the rubble on their own.

“I don’t know if my son is buried there, if my son is alive,” she said.

Núñez Ramírez, a lawyer by profession, said she plans to sue the governments of the United States and Venezuela.

She argued that in the U.S., her son and the other migrants were “treated like dogs there, and here in Venezuela too.”

She said that as soon as she finds out what happened to her son, she will gather the families of the other migrants from that flight to file a class-action lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told the Herald: “This flight safely reached Venezuela and all illegal aliens on board were returned home. When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them.”