Oswadeliz Núñez remembers arguing together with her son Daniel when he determined to get a tattoo when he was 24. About 4 years later, that tattoo helped her determine Daniel’s physique after he was killed in the dual earthquakes that devastated Venezuela final month.
Daniel had arrived again in Venezuela the day of the catastrophe, after being deported from the United States. From La Guaira, he known as his mom from the cellphone of a Venezuelan intelligence service (SEBIN) officer, letting her know he was in the nation.
“He told me, ‘No, Mom, we’re here with SEBIN officers,’” Núñez advised NCS. He advised her he and different deportees had eaten, had medical examinations and have been set to spend the evening at a lodge in Macuto in La Guaira, whereas the executive procedures for his or her repatriation have been being accomplished. The following day, he would make the almost seven-hour journey to the city of El Tigre to reunite together with his mom.
That reunion by no means occurred. About 40 minutes after what could be his final name to his mom, the earth shook and the lodge he was in crumbled to the bottom – trapping lots of its inhabitants beneath the rubble.
It’s not but clear what number of of Daniel’s fellow deportees have been killed alongside him that day – unconfirmed stories counsel presumably as many as 12.
Nationwide, the catastrophe killed 1000’s of individuals and displaced 1000’s extra.
The deportation flight carrying Daniel departed from Miami and landed at 10:22 a.m. native time at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Venezuela, on the Wednesday the earthquakes hit. According to figures launched by Venezuelan authorities and ICE Flight Monitor, a Human Rights First undertaking that tracks deportation flights, there have been 146 folks on board: 120 males, 19 girls, and 7 youngsters.
That similar Wednesday, Venezuela’s Vuelta a la Patria (“Return to the Homeland”) mission introduced the arrival of Flight 164, saying the passengers had been acquired at Simón Bolívar International Airport “with dignity” and beneath “all necessary protocols” to make sure “a happy reunion in our nation.”
But that reunion was short-lived.
After the earthquakes hit, Núñez tried to contact authorities – solely to obtain no useful data. She then made the journey to La Guaira, the place she and a group of mates and family took issues into their very own palms – looking out hospitals, clinics and morgues for Daniel.
“We slept two or three hours at a time and kept searching. We’d go into hospitals with eight, nine, 10 floors, climb every floor and check room by room,” she stated.
The search lasted till Monday, when Núñez returned to the catastrophe web site satisfied that her son had not survived and that his physique was nonetheless beneath the rubble.
Officials lastly directed her to a port facility that had been was an emergency morgue after numerous our bodies have been unearthed from the rubble in the times following the earthquake.
“When we went to retrieve my son’s body, there was complete chaos,” Núñez stated. “Bodies were lying on the floor.”
Núñez lastly discovered a physique comparable to the quantity she was given. It was her son – however not the face she remembered.
“Daniel’s face was completely crushed; you could see his bones,” she recounted. Núñez’s nephew went to wash Daniel’s left arm, which was nonetheless intact.
“We saw his tattoo,” Núñez stated. “When he got that tattoo, I argued with him. But now I thank God he got it, because that’s practically how I was able to recognize him.”
Then got here the bureaucratic hurdles she needed to clear, all whereas the grief was nonetheless recent and excruciating.
“They told me the cremation and burial would be free, but that we’d have to wait anywhere from 10 to 30 days,” Núñez stated. Unable to attend as much as a month, she ended up paying a non-public crematorium $680 to expedite the method.
“We couldn’t afford to stay there any longer, spending more money and time. We’re not from La Guaira.”
After receiving her son’s ashes, she made the journey again dwelling.
“We returned home on Wednesday — not the way I wanted, with my son alive — but at least I have his ashes.”
Despite her loss, Núñez is grateful she was capable of finding Daniel’s physique.
“There are people who still haven’t found their loved ones. They’re still searching.”
NCS has contacted Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and the Vuelta a la Patria program for touch upon Daniel’s case, in addition to for added details about the passengers on the flight and the protocols adopted after the earthquakes. NCS is awaiting a response.
Daniel got here to the US in 2022 after crossing the border from Mexico and commenced the asylum course of. But on May 10, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers detained him whereas he was on his method dwelling from his development job.
Núñez says her son had already determined to return to Venezuela.
“Daniel had already decided to go back by the end of this year because he said the persecution of migrants had become very intense,” she stated.
ICE brokers advised Daniel his detention was over his failure to seem in court docket after being cited in 2024 for driving with out a legitimate license, based on Núñez.
“He told me, ‘Mom, I paid the fine, but I didn’t know I had to appear in court.’ At the time he was moving apartments, and he believes the notice was sent to his previous address and he never received it,” she stated.
Court information reviewed by NCS present that Daniel Núñez had no felony report in the United States past a number of visitors violations, together with driving with out a legitimate license and dashing.
The information additionally present that in 2026 he appeared in a case involving an arrest warrant issued in one other county. Available paperwork point out the warrant was associated to the visitors case involving his driver’s license, though the extradition file doesn’t specify its precise origin.
Daniel needed to wait till June 9 for his court docket listening to, the place a decide dismissed the cost associated to his driver’s license and imposed a superb for his earlier failure to seem at court docket. However, as a result of his asylum case was nonetheless pending, ICE saved him in custody earlier than transferring him to a detention heart.
“When he got there, they put a lot of psychological pressure on him to self-deport, and he decided to sign his deportation papers,” Núñez stated. “They told him he’d be in Venezuela within five days, but it became 15 days. Tragically, he arrived on the 24th — the day of the earthquakes.”
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security advised NCS that the deportation flight arrived in Venezuela with out incident and that every one undocumented international nationals on board have been returned to their nation of origin.
The spokesperson added that “once an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for that person.”
Núñez – a lawyer herself – says her struggle is way from over. She says she is going to proceed talking out on social media and plans to additional her authorized training so she will pursue justice over her son’s loss of life.
She’s calling for the Venezuelan government to be extra clear towards grieving households searching for their family members and to implement safer, extra environment friendly and humane protocols for Venezuelan deportees with no felony information. She laments that deportees like her son couldn’t be instantly launched upon return to the nation – held on the mercy of bureaucratic processes.
“They are not sacks of potatoes. They are human beings. They are handing over human beings,” she stated.
“All I ask God is that these deaths not go unpunished, because my son was not a criminal.”