Venezuela (AFP) – Hundreds of candles lit up the sky Friday evening during a collective vigil to honor the thousands of victims of the double earthquake of June 24 in Venezuela, just 100 days ago.
Published on: 03/10/2026 - 05:00
About 400 people gathered on land where a building destroyed by the earthquake previously stood in the coastal state of La Guaira, about 40 kilometers from Caracas.
“We will always love you, my daughter”, could we read on the car of the family of Francelis Iriarte, a 16-year-old girl who died in the collapse of her building in front of her parents who were returning from the supermarket.
Volunteers handed out white candles during the ceremony, which ended with a beam of light being lit into the sky near the ruined buildings.
“It brings a little calm,” Selene Manahu, Francelis’ mother, said of the ceremony.
Her family managed to find the girl's body after 29 days of searching among the rubble.
Fielluz Perdomo, a resident of La Guaira, remembered her dead loved ones: It is difficult to say to herself "that there is nothing left, that there is only a small tree left, it's terrible", she confided, sobbing when she saw the wasteland where the building was located.
The two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 left more than 6,500 dead, thousands missing and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
© 2026 AFP
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