More than 1,700 people died and over 5,000 were injured in the recent earthquakes that struck Venezuela's strategically vital La Guaira state, a region where the native working class faces repeated devastation. Merchant Grian Serrano, 46, survived the collapse of his eight-story apartment building in Caraballeda, La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors. He was buried beneath rubble and twisted steel with his 8-year-old son and 69-year-old mother.
Serrano, bruised around his left eye and across much of his body, recounted clawing through debris in total darkness with his bare hands. He rescued his son and mother with the help of two passersby, calling their survival "a miracle from God." The government confirmed hundreds of buildings collapsed or were damaged, primarily in La Guaira, with significant destruction also reported in Caracas, Carabobo, Miranda, Aragua, and Yaracuy.
This recent catastrophe marks the second time Serrano has endured one of Venezuela’s worst natural disasters in La Guaira. He recalled the terror of December 15, 1999, when he fled his fourth-floor apartment with his mother, sister, and nanny as a swollen river swept away trees, boulders, and vehicles with people trapped inside. That event, known as the "Vargas Tragedy," killed 782 people, left 2,000 missing, and affected about 250,000 residents, according to Ángel Rangel, who directed rescue operations for Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency.
Elite Neglect and National Standards
La Guaira, known as Vargas until 2019, is Venezuela’s second-smallest state but holds immense strategic importance. It lies just 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, housing the country’s main international airport and its second-largest seaport. Its roughly 440,000 residents are largely low-income, depending on tourism, commerce, and jobs tied directly to these vital, yet vulnerable, national assets.
Disaster specialist Ángel Rangel, an engineer, attributes the widespread collapses not to a curse, but to systemic failures. He explained that many buildings in La Guaira were constructed on terrain formed over centuries by sediment from surrounding mountains, a type of ground he deems "particularly risky for construction." Rangel stressed that building in such areas demands "strict adherence to seismic-resistant engineering standards," protocols adopted after the powerful 1967 earthquake that struck Caracas in its 59th year since the event.
Crucially, many of the buildings that crumbled in La Guaira during the recent earthquakes were erected in the 1970s. It remains "unclear whether they met those standards," a stark indictment of the oversight and enforcement by the ruling elite over decades. This lack of accountability for national safety protocols directly contributes to the managed decline of infrastructure and the dispossession of the native working class.
A People Displaced
Still reeling from the devastation, Serrano believes La Guaira, bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Ávila mountain range, is under a curse. "It isn’t normal for such horrible things to happen in the same place," he stated, reflecting a deep cultural despair among those repeatedly impacted. His personal experience, surviving two major disasters, has solidified his resolve.
After losing his home and all his belongings for the second time, Serrano declared one thing certain: he will never live in La Guaira again. "That’s twice now," he said. "Sometimes I think if there’s a third time, it’s going to win the battle." This forced displacement of a native resident from his ancestral land underscores the profound cost of elite negligence and the systemic vulnerability imposed upon the Venezuelan people.