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Ricardo Capote has been unable to bury his wife eleven days after the earthquakes on June 24, 2026 destroyed their building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state. While he waits, he raises only Ricardito, his 10-month-old son who was rescued alive from the rubble and has become one of the symbols of survival from the worst seismic disaster in Venezuela since 1900.
According to the report by Telemundo 51, the baby's mother was trapped under a beam when the eight-story building collapsed. Ricardo is convinced that she pushed the child away before being crushed: "The mom saved him because there is no other explanation. I imagine that when she saw the beam coming down, she tried to push the baby away, and that’s what saved him."
The father also believes that his wife made signals for the rescuers to find the baby. "There was a moment when he started crying more. We presume that the mother, at some point, somehow pinched him," he recounted. The person who found the child told him that the woman managed to say goodbye: "When she heard that someone was with the baby, she waved her hand to say goodbye."
Ricardo remembers that that afternoon he was sitting in front of the computer when the tremors began. He told his wife to stand under the doorframe with the baby in her arms, but he didn't move from his chair. "I never got up. I was at the computer, trusting that it was just one tremor and that it would pass, but that wasn't the case."
The next day he returned to the building and found what he feared: "It was that I saw her crushed by a beam."
The tragedy of this family goes beyond the loss of Ricardito's mother. Ricardo also lost his own mother, who died trapped beneath the rubble in Carayaca, another area in the state of La Guaira. The distance and chaos prevented him from arriving in time: "I couldn't see my mom. I couldn't say my final goodbye. I couldn't attend the funeral."
The body of his wife remains under the rubble. Ricardo reports that recovery efforts are at a standstill due to a lack of resources: "There are no tools. There are no equipment. There are no cranes. There is no machinery. It's a total disaster, to be honest." The shortage of diesel, which has halted excavators and cranes in critical areas of La Guaira, further exacerbates the situation, according to reports from Bloomberg Línea.
Ricardito, who was born with a heart condition and requires medical treatment, is under the care of relatives in the west of La Guaira. He was about to be baptized and dedicated to the Virgin of the Valley when the disaster occurred. The family clarified that they are not asking for money through social media.
When asked where he finds the strength to continue, Ricardo replied without hesitation: "I see my kid every day."
The official toll of the earthquakes now stands at over 3,342 fatalities, according to figures from the Venezuelan government, although international organizations such as the United States Geological Survey estimate that the actual number could be between 10,000 and 100,000 deaths, while civic platforms reported more than 71,203 individuals unaccounted for. Among the most heartbreaking cases is that of the Cuban boy Dayán Martínez, aged 10, confirmed dead on Sunday after being trapped for over 11 days in a building in Los Corales.
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