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