The deafening silence of grief in my beloved Venezuela.

Hello my dear friends, it’s a pleasure to greet you after several weeks away.

It moves me deeply to recount here the tragedy that occurred on 24 June, a public holiday in our country commemorating the Battle of Carabobo. Thousands of families were relaxing at home, enjoying the World Cup, completely unaware of the earth’s sudden, violent tremor.

That day, in the Andes region, at around 6 pm, I was lying in bed watching TikTok when suddenly the bed began to shake from side to side. I alerted my husband and we left our home; the shaking lasted a long time.

Once it had passed, we went back inside, but the news hit us with a cloud of dust that shook Caracas – scenes as dramatic as anything from a film, the likes of which we had never experienced before in our history – with the seismic double-whammy that triggered a devastating earthquake, plunging the heart of Caracas, our beautiful Venezuela, into mourning.

We have been through countless chaotic events, but in my view this was the most terrifying, with the deaths of thousands of families in a matter of seconds; there are no words of comfort for this.

For those who believe in God, despite the adversity, hope and faith are the last things to be lost; when people are found alive beneath the rubble, miracles do exist.

But it is one thing to see social media, and quite another to hear the testimonies of friends who, with broken hearts, are struggling to find their relatives amongst the rubble using their own resources; I have two friends who are missing.

It was like something out of a film to watch, via a security camera, as two buildings collapsed in a matter of seconds. I cannot imagine the endless suffering of those who died.

I am overcome with a sense of helplessness, firstly because we are so limited – by economic factors and, worse still, the government’s immediate absence – and it breaks my heart to see the lack of empathy for our fellow countrymen, but God never abandons us; neighbouring countries have come to carry out the wonderful work of rescue.

According to social media, there has been an outpouring of foreign aid, both in kind and financial; however, we must be very careful when sending donations – colloquially known as remittances – because most of these are scams. You must check that the organisations are reputable and that the aid actually reaches those in need; do not transfer money to personal accounts.

The search is still ongoing, with no let-up; whilst some are working on one thing, others are working on another. I urge you, my dear friends, to be bearers of aid for my fellow countrymen.

I’ve used the DeepL translator as my native language is Spanish.

A helping hand for Venezuela.
Blessings to all.