South Florida Venezuelans search for missing loved ones as community sends aid and urges halt to deportations

As humanitarian aid flows from South Florida to Venezuela following devastating earthquakes, local Venezuelan Americans are navigating a desperate search for news of missing family members.

Among those waiting for answers is Broward County resident Andreina Gandica, who has not heard from her 15-year-old nephew, Diego Lorenzo Gandica, since the earthquake struck on Wednesday.

"I think we are still going to get a phone call telling us they found him," Gandica said in Spanish. "I have to be hopeful."

According to Gandica, her nephew was inside an apartment building in the Los Corales area of La Guaira when it collapsed. While family members were able to reach the site, they could not locate the teenager, who had been watching the World Cup when the disaster hit. His best friend also remains missing.

The uncertainty is mirrored across the community. In Doral, Andrea Brito and her father held posters of her uncle and his wife, who also lived in La Guaira. The couple's 12-year-old son was rescued, but the parents remain missing.

"It's been almost 48 hours or more, and we're still hoping they are alive, even though they have everything on top of them," Brito said. "It's hard seeing and imagining the last seconds before the building collapsed."

As families wait, South Florida's Venezuelan community has mobilized to provide aid. At the Global Empowerment Mission headquarters in Doral, volunteers spent Friday organizing donations.

"It's Venezuela, it's my country, my family," said volunteer Luis Miguel Trillonario.

Billy Richardson, of Global Empowerment Mission, described the response as overwhelming. "It's one of the first times I've seen lines of cars for donations that long," Richardson said. "I left here after 8 o'clock last night, and I still had cars pulling up asking if we could take donations."

Donors like Dariana Padron arrived with supplies including portable beds, pillows, toothpaste, wipes, alcohol, and pet food. "We thought it was very necessary to bring portable beds since hospitals probably need that," Padron said.

Venezuelan Americans call on the White House to halt deportations

At El Arepazo in Doral, community members gathered to urge the White House to temporarily halt deportations to Venezuela as the country grapples with the aftermath of the disaster.

"President Trump, I speak directly to you today," said Juan Correa Villalonga, a Venezuelan American activist with the organization All for Venezuela. "Please don't send Venezuelans to a country that is not ready to receive them and further collapse the systems that are supposed to prioritize getting people the aid they need, especially search and rescue."

Correa Villalonga noted that on June 24, hours before the first earthquake struck, more than 160 Venezuelans arrived from the United States on a deportation flight and were housed at Hotel La Granada. The activist stated that the majority of those deportees died when the building collapsed.

As rescue efforts continue in Venezuela, families in South Florida remain in a state of suspended animation, waiting for updates and holding onto hope that their loved ones will be found alive.

El Arepazo and GEM have been leading relief efforts for Venezuela in South Florida 

Relief efforts for Venezuela have turned into a round-the-clock operation in Doral, where community groups and volunteers are working extended hours to collect and organize aid.

El Arepazo and the Global Empowerment Mission, GEM, have remained open well beyond their scheduled times as donations continue to pour in and volunteers step up to help.

"For a lot of us, we are immigrants, so money is a little bit hard," said volunteer Vianna Martinez. "I understand it's hard to donate in a monetary aspect, but helping out and being here is more than enough."

Many volunteers say their loved ones in Venezuela are safe, but others are still searching for missing relatives.

Andrea Brito, who has family near Caracas, said she has been unable to locate several family members following the disaster.

"I can't imagine what my family felt in that moment," Brito said.

Her family and friends shared a video showing an apartment building where relatives once lived, reduced to rubble. Amid the debris, Brito said her cousin was found alive.

"Because of social media and everyone making group chats to help everyone, we were able to locate him," she said.

However, the boy's parents and grandmother remain missing.

Brito and her father have created flyers calling for additional resources and heavy machinery to help clear debris in hopes of finding survivors.

"We still hope," Brito said. "We still have that little hope that humans always have in these kinds of situations."

As recovery efforts continue, volunteers say sustained international support will be critical.

"We have been working a lot, but we will need more and more support from all countries," volunteer Victoria Navarro said.

GEM, which is typically closed on weekends, plans to continue operations on Saturday with volunteers returning to sort donations in the coming days.