Venezuela: UN Refugee Chief Calls Quake Rebuild Overwhelming, Hopes Migrants Can Return
MIGRATION · VENEZUELA
Key Facts
- —The country Venezuela is rebuilding after twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on 24 June 2026, under an interim government led by Delcy Rodríguez.
- —What happened UN refugee chief Barham Salih toured quake-hit La Guaira on Saturday 3 October. He called the rebuild “overwhelming” and said over 12,000 homes were destroyed, EFE reported.
- —The numbers About 6.98 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants live in Latin America and the Caribbean. A UN-backed platform gave that count as of 20 August 2026.
- —What it means for you UNHCR says it will support voluntary returns. Salih said measures to reintegrate returnees are still missing.
- —Still open What the “new chapter of cooperation” contains, how it will be funded, and when the planned La Guaira service centre opens.
Venezuela faces an overwhelming reconstruction challenge after the June earthquakes, the head of the UN refugee agency said on Saturday. Barham Salih, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), spoke after touring La Guaira, the worst-hit state.
Salih, a former president of Iraq, also said he hopes the political transition lets exiled Venezuelans return home. His two-day trip was the first visit to Venezuela by a UN refugee chief, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
A long road in La Guaira
“The devastation is truly incredible,” Salih told EFE after seeing the damaged areas. More than 12,000 homes were destroyed and thousands of families displaced, he said.
UNHCR’s own emergency update, citing Venezuelan authorities, gives a different measure: 25,240 homes damaged out of 60,785 assessed as of 24 August.
He also saw a “capacity for recovery” and a “determination to rebuild”. Still, “the road is very long and the challenge is overwhelming,” he said, as Descifrado and Infobae reported.
In La Guaira he met Governor José Alejandro Terán, El Nacional reported. They visited the site of a planned multiservice centre, where local and aid groups will offer protection services under one roof.
The quakes of 24 June killed more than 6,500 people and left almost 18,000 without homes, EFE reported. Children’s rights group Cecodap still counts 144 children missing, as covered in Venezuela Quake Leaves 144 Children Missing.
Talks with the interim government
On Friday 2 October Salih met acting president Delcy Rodríguez and Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia in Caracas. They discussed quake recovery, voluntary return, reintegration and “a new chapter of cooperation”, Salih wrote on X.
He praised Rodríguez’s September call at the UN General Assembly for migrants to come home. He called it “an important vision of inclusion, stability and prosperity that UNHCR is ready to support”, Efecto Cocuyo reported.
UNHCR’s Americas director, Isabel Márquez, and UN resident coordinator Álvaro Rodríguez joined the meeting. The visit follows Venezuela’s opening to international agencies since US forces captured Nicolás Maduro on 3 January.
Hopes for a safe return
“Many wish to return home, and want to do so with safety and dignity, in peace,” Salih told EFE. He tied that hope to national reconciliation and inclusion.
He called return only a first stage, however. Measures to reintegrate people who left because they felt at risk are still lacking, he said.
A UN-backed interagency platform tracks Venezuelans abroad, co-led by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). It counted 6.98 million in Latin America and the Caribbean as of 20 August 2026.
Host countries had granted about 5.19 million residence and regular-stay permits by 15 February 2026, the platform’s data show. It also listed 1.36 million pending asylum claims and about 395,000 recognised Venezuelan refugees as of 30 June 2025. Many of those migrants have built lives abroad that a return would uproot.
Aid on the ground
UNHCR coordinated protection and shelter for quake victims, Efecto Cocuyo reported. Private donors are active too, as shown in Venezuela Quake Aid Reaches US$47 Million in 100 Days.
The size of the overwhelming reconstruction task is also tracked in Venezuela 4.8 Tremor Hits East, Housing Gap Persists. That report found many families still in temporary camps in late September.
What Is Not Yet Known
Neither side has published terms or a budget for the new cooperation. It is unclear whether UNHCR will bring fresh funding to the overwhelming reconstruction effort.
No figures exist yet on how many Venezuelans have returned since January. The opening date of the La Guaira multiservice centre has not been announced.
Sources: Descifrado (EFE), 4 October 2026; El Nacional, 3 October 2026; Efecto Cocuyo, 3 October 2026; Infobae (EFE), 3 October 2026; UNHCR, Venezuela earthquakes emergency update no. 5; Interagency platform for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, key figures, accessed 4 October 2026.
In depth
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