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Richard Pereira survived the collapse of the Hotel Santuario La Llanada in Macuto, La Guaira state, but died hours later in the hospital due to injuries sustained during the collapse, as reported by his wife Johana Pineda to Telemundo 51.
Richard, Johana, and their seven-year-old son, Richi, had just arrived in Venezuela a few hours earlier on the flight 164 of the "Return to the Homeland" program, which repatriated 146 Venezuelans deported from the United States on June 24.
The family had been living in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, since 2023 while processing an asylum application. Johana claims that she signed a voluntary departure thinking she would have until August to prepare, but they were detained during a routine appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported just two days later.
After landing at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, the group was taken to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, a building that the Venezuelan regime commonly used to receive deportees and was guarded by agents of the National Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
Less than three hours after their arrival, at 6:04 PM, two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 - just 39 seconds apart - shook the northern part of the country, and the building completely collapsed.
In the hotel, the women with children had been separated from the men. Johana was with Richi when the collapse began.
"I never let go of my son; I always held him in my arms. At that moment, I thought I had died. All I did was tell him, 'I love you,'" she recalled through tears.
The child responded with a phrase that his mother asserts she will never forget: "Mom, I don’t want to die."
Both survived with minor injuries. Richard was trapped under the rubble and was rescued alive by other deportees, but he died in the hospital shortly thereafter.
"It feels like a nightmare. I feel that my husband is working and that he will come back at any moment," said Johana.
Then came another blow: telling the youngest that his father had died. With the help of a psychologist, they tried to find the right words. "The child didn't want to believe it. He kept saying that it couldn't be true, that his dad was with his grandfather,” the mother recounted.
Johana's niece, Luisa Quintero Pineda, organized a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe from Nashville, Tennessee, to cover funeral, medical, housing, and psychological support expenses for Johana and Richi. At the time of publication, the campaign had raised $6,665 of a $20,000 goal.
The tragedy was not exclusive to this family. Rosvelis Boscan Chacín, 47 years old and father of seven children, called his daughter at three in the afternoon on June 24 to ask for her address. He died after the hotel collapsed.
Yamil Caldera, 32 years old, detained by ICE in Arizona, also lost his life. His cousin Deisy Urbina described him as follows: “He was a warrior because he fought to get out of there, but he couldn't.”
Testimonials from family members report that no one went to rescue the deportees who survived the disaster, and they had to save themselves, clearing rubble with their own hands.
Furthermore, the following day, Sebin officials closed access to the hotel and did not allow families to approach to seek their loved ones.
The government of Delcy Rodríguez has not released any official list of victims, survivors, or missing persons from flight 164.
The earthquakes of June 24 are the most devastating recorded in Venezuela since 1900, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The official count as of July 1 was 2,295 dead, 11,267 injured, and 12,841 affected, while the UN estimates over 50,000 missing throughout the country.
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