Experts blame extensive earthquake damage in Venezuela on decades of government neglect

Two major earthquakes on 24 June killed more than 3,000 people in Venezuela and destroyed more than 58,000 buildings, with extensive damage reported to architectural heritage and national monuments. Archaeologist José Miguel Pérez-Gómez of Simón Bolívar University said Caracas and the nearby coastal city of La Guaira were among the most affected, with La Guaira especially vulnerable due to seismic waves bouncing between the Caribbean and the mountains. La Guaira, added to UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list in 1999, saw damage reported at sites including Casa Guipuzcoana (a national monument), the San Pedro Apóstol Diocesan Seminary, the San Sebastián de Maiquetía Church façade, the San Pedro Apóstol Cathedral, the Ermita del Carmen, and other monuments such as the Hotel Miramar in Macuto and La Cuchilla fort (built in 1770). Pérez-Gómez urged immediate technical inspections, warning that colonial and ecclesiastical heritage remains vulnerable to aftershocks, rain, and instability, and he attributed the scale of damage in part to long-term neglect and lack of maintenance.

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