Machado listened to families affected by the earthquakes in San Bernardino
The opposition leader toured the Caracas neighborhood, observed damage to buildings and spoke with residents who suffered human and material losses.
María Corina Machado visited San Bernardino in Caracas, where she spoke with families affected by the June 24, 2026 earthquakes. During her tour of the neighborhood, she observed structural and façade damage to buildings. Residents shared accounts of human and material losses. Vente Venezuela, her party, announced the activity on X. The parish was among the Caracas areas hardest hit by the disaster.
The seismic episode consisted of two earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, separated by 39 seconds. The cited official toll records 6,509 deaths and 16,740 injuries. It also lists moderate damage to 14,239 homes and severe damage to another 11,001. Those figures form part of the national assessment of the earthquakes' effects.
La Guaira accounted for 158 of the 190 buildings that collapsed in Venezuela. The World Bank estimated direct physical damage at $19.6 billion, an amount equivalent to 18% of Venezuela's gross domestic product. In San Bernardino, the collapse of the Rita building killed seven people. A broken pipe complicated rescue work in the days after the earthquakes.
The visit to the Caracas neighborhood was Machado's second trip to communities affected by the earthquakes. In late October, she had visited La Guaira and traveled through Playa Grande, Catia La Mar and Caraballeda, where she met people harmed by the earthquakes. Machado reappeared publicly in Venezuela on October 25 after months in hiding amid Washington-backed negotiations with the Venezuelan government. She also met representatives of the Democratic Unity Platform and Alliance for Venezuela, a coalition of smaller social and political organizations.
On Friday, Machado went outside El Rodeo I prison in Miranda state and addressed political prisoners with a megaphone. She said she would continue supporting them and read the names of nearly 400 detainees whose cases total 1,756 years in prison. The leader spoke from an elevated area where relatives commonly call out to imprisoned family members. From inside the prison, inmates answered with shouts of “Justice” and “Freedom.”
Foro Penal said that when Machado visited El Rodeo I, Venezuela had more than 300 political prisoners, including 68 at that facility. Outside the prison, relatives have maintained the Camp of Dignity since January 8, 2026, a permanent vigil that had reached 300 days the previous Tuesday. The San Bernardino visit therefore joins Machado's tours of affected areas and meetings with prisoners' relatives and opposition groups. In the neighborhood, the activity focused on listening to residents and observing continuing building damage.