A 18 días del doble terremoto que dejó 4490 muertos y más de 16 mil heridos, Venezuela intenta ponerse de pie mientras enfrenta otra tragedia: la de los chicos que sobrevivieron a la catástrofe y que quedaron en una situación de extrema vulnerabilidad. Muchos de ellos perdieron a sus padres y son huérfanos.

TN dialogó con representantes de organizaciones humanitarias, entre ellas UNICEF, que asisten a las víctimas. Todos advirtieron que la situación es absolutamente crítica.

“En este tipo de desastres, y especialmente en éste, vemos un enorme sufrimiento entre los chicos. Por eso brindamos apoyo psicosocial tanto a ellos como a sus familias, porque hoy esa es una de las necesidades más urgentes”, explicó Margarita, representante de UNICEF.

En ese sentido, sumó: “Lo que vemos son niños y niñas con miedo en la noche, que no pueden dormir, con traumas que necesitan ser atendidos. Lo que hacemos es brindar esos espacios para que vuelvan a ser niños después de una situación tan traumática”.

“Es enternecedor escuchar a los niños porque ellos tienen una resiliencia natural aún mayor que los adultos y pueden, incluso en el peor escenario, encontrar momentos para vincularse desde el juego, la risa y la alegría”, indicó a este medio otra voluntaria.

Entre los sobrevivientes hay familias que lo perdieron todo. Uno de ellos tiene un bebé de 10 meses y quedó en la calle, sin un lugar al que regresar.

Leé también: Encontraron otros 157 cuerpos en Venezuela y ya son 4490 las víctimas fatales por los terremotos

Génesis también logró sobrevivir a la tragedia y hoy está en un refugio junto a sus tres hijos, de 5, 6 y 7 años. El terremoto se llevó a la abuela y a una tía de los chicos. “Nos faltan juguetes”, respondió uno de los niños cuando le preguntaron qué necesitaban con mayor urgencia.

El caso de Fabiana, la niña del milagro

En medio del dolor también surgen historias de esperanza. Una de ellas es la de Fabiana, la nena de 12 años que fue rescatada con vida tras permanecer 32 horas bajo los escombros.

En diálogo con TN, ella contó que cuando empezó el terremoto estaba sola en su departamento de La Guaira, una de las zonas más afectadas, porque su madre había salido a trabajar. “Estaba en mi cuarto, mirando mi teléfono, cuando salgo a la cocina a tomar agua y ahí fue cuando el terremoto me agarra muy fuerte. Todo se movía, todo se tambaleaba y el edificio se iba de lado”, relató.

Fabiana recuerda con detalles lo que pasó después: “Segundos más tarde, comienzan a caer escombros a mi alrededor. Cuando todo terminó de caer, todo quedó en un silencio matador y yo me quedé pensando: ‘¿ahora qué voy a hacer?’. Después de 32 horas mirando el techo que tenía en mi cara, empecé a escuchar mi nombre a lo lejos. Escuchaba que me hablaban y lloré de felicidad porque me iban a sacar. Iba a verme con mi familia».

Ella quiso dejar un mensaje para el resto de las víctimas del terremoto en su país. “Siempre confíen en Dios porque él va a tener sus razones para todos. Y que nunca apaguen su sonrisa”, reflexionó.

Cuando logró reencontrarse con su madre, le dijo “no me vuelvo a quedar nunca más sola”.

Los números de la tragedia

El doble terremoto que golpeó Venezuela el 24 de junio causó 4490 fallecidos, según el último balance oficial difundido por el gobierno chavista. De esa manera, sumó otras 157 víctimas fatales al último informe. La cifra de heridos se mantiene en 16.740.

El presidente del Parlamento, Jorge Rodríguez, indicó que 120.794 familias fueron atendidas y que hay 19.583 personas en un total de 108 campamentos transitorios habilitados en escuelas de Caracas y los estados aledaños Miranda y La Guaira, la región más afectada.

Leé también: Padres desesperados: buscan a sus hijos desaparecidos a casi dos semanas del doble terremoto en Venezuela

De acuerdo a este reporte, hay 14 nuevos refugios temporales respecto al sábado, cuando había 94.

También informó que hubo 1.222 réplicas desde el 24 de junio.

Cerca de 18.000 personas perdieron sus casas, pero las autoridades creen que ese número subirá a medida que avance el proceso de inspección de las edificaciones que no se desplomaron, pero que sufrieron daños.

Steve Forbes has been a bold advocate for the American capitalist system, free markets and sound money for decades. As the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, and a presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, he has been one of the nation’s leading voices on economics.

Recently, Forbes sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss the state of the American economy, New York City’s socialist turn, and the policies of the Trump administration.

STEVE FORBES: CHUCK SCHUMER HAS A BEEF WITH BEEF, BUT DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO GRILL IT

«First of all, New York City has had a reputation in the past of electing radical candidates, including the allegedly only communist member of Congress back in the late 1940s. So there is that streak there. But more importantly, I think it shows that people, a lot of people, are dissatisfied.

The 78-year-old scion of a publishing empire said the left is better organized than it’s freedom-loving counterparts.

«We’ve got to get the message out,» he said. «And one thing that the left has learned is that you try to occupy the high moral ground. Even if you wreck people’s lives, kill millions of people under socialism, communism, your intentions were good.

«So they try to play the moral card. And so it’s not enough to say, ‘Well, free enterprise gives you more prosperity.’ You also have to put on the plane that free enterprise is moral. It’s based on liberty, based on allowing human beings to be creative, or as Lincoln put it, improve your lot in life.»

Following Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech and its depiction of the internal threat of communism, Forbes agrees, citing another U.S. president.

«Whatever you call it, communism, socialism, extreme leftism, anti-Semitism, it’s all the same disease,» Forbes said. «Abraham Lincoln put it very well in the 1800s. He said, ‘It won’t be foreign forces that destroy the United States. It’ll be things we do internally.’»

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the sixteenth president of the United States, was president during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. His greatest act was issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, abolishing slavery, in 1863. He was assassinated just after the war on April 14, 1865, by actor John Wilkes Booth. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Forbes suggested that many incorrectly blame problems on free markets, when they should instead be blaming government policies:

«What happens is when governments start making mistakes and doing things that people don’t like and that hurt people’s prospects for getting ahead, upsetting society, they blame it on capitalism. They blame it on free markets,» he said. «So they help wreck free markets and then say, ‘The victim is the cause of it.’»

Prosperity and innovation can only flourish with freedom, Forbes said. While capitalism isn’t perfect, it has led to inventions that improve our lives, according to Forbes.

STEVE FORBES: MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST RENT CONTROL PUTS NEW YORK ON THE ROAD TO HOUSING RUIN

«Take your handheld,» he said. «If you’d said 30 years ago [that your] grandma could operate a supercomputer, you’d have gotten a rather strange look. Now we take it for granted. The first one was just 40 years ago, cost $3,995, weighed like a brick, the size of a shoebox. And today we have handhelds that are really supercomputers that can do anything anywhere. And in real terms, they get cheaper and cheaper. So that’s the miracle of human creativity. And then the amazing thing is we take it for granted.»

Forbes has long been an advocate for sound money, and a prominent critic of the Federal Reserve:

The Federal Reserve sets the nation’s monetary policy and influences borrowing costs across the economy. (Annabelle GORDON / AFP via Getty Images)

«Start with the Federal Reserve, the idea that prosperity causes inflation. Experience shows time and time again, it’s absolute nonsense. So if the economy starts to do well, you hear mutterings from the central bank asking, ‘Is the economy overheating?’ as if the economy is a machine,» Forbes said.

«So ask yourself, if your income is improving, do you start to feel overheating? Do you start to sweat at night? You know, ‘Take it away because I’m overheating?’ No, it’s preposterous,» he said.

The central bank’s role is to preserve the integrity of the dollar, not to manage economic activity by trying to manipulate interest rates, according to Forbes.

«And yet most free marketeers, for example, realize rent control distorts markets and ends up costing more and giving people less,» Forbes noted. «Well, what is controlling interest rates? It’s a form of rent control. They used to call interest rent. You’d rent the money.»

His prescription for the Trump administration is simple:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

«On the domestic front, go for a new round of tax cuts. Reduce tax rates for individuals and for businesses,» Forbes said. «Taxes are a price. So, propose it. Congress may not pass it, but you’ve got an issue you can take to the voters. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Selling such a plan to the public could be done with some savvy marketing, Forbes added.

«Bring out examples of people who have benefited enormously from not taxing overtime, not taxing tips, and saying, remember those old late night TV commercials [where hawkers would say] ‘But wait, there’s more?’ They can say, ‘But wait, there’s more. We’re going to have big tax cuts. Everyone’s going to benefit.’

«And continue with the deregulation,» he concluded. «You go on that path, and good things will happen.»

Four Americans were reportedly caught in a fiery multi-vehicle crash in Mexico that left at least 10 people dead and about 10 others injured. 

The massive pileup happened Sunday after a tractor-trailer crashed into multiple vehicles on a highway in the western state of Jalisco, according to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit. 

While the agency reported 10 deaths, Mexico’s Army, Air Force and National Guard said nine people were killed.

Jalisco Civil Protection told Reuters that four Americans suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital.

EIGHT BELIEVED DEAD AFTER B-52 CRASHES SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE

«Four patients in minor condition, all U.S. citizens, were transferred to the Arboledas Hospital in Guadalajara by a private ambulance from the highway,» Jalisco Civil Protection said.

Reuters reported that two of those killed were minors.

Another two of the injured were identified as National Guard members who suffered serious injuries and were taken to a hospital in Guadalajara, according to Reuters. 

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show several vehicles engulfed in flames along the highway connecting Guadalajara and Tepic, sending multiple plumes of black smoke into the air. 

MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS

A firefighter works to douse the smoking engine of a destroyed vehicle after a devastating highway collision in Jalisco, Mexico, on Sunday. (Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit)

According to Mexican officials, the crash happened when a tractor-trailer apparently suffered a brake failure and slammed into a line of vehicles that had stopped because of an earlier accident. 

«According to initial reports, a trailer reportedly suffered a failure in its braking system and ended up crashing into several vehicles that were stopped due to a prior incident,» Mexico’s Army, Air Force and National Guard said in a post on X. 

POPULAR FLORIDA SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER KILLED IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING WHILE INSIDE LUXURY SUV

The initial accident reportedly involved a rear-end collision between two tractor-trailers. As emergency crews responded, a third tractor-trailer crashed into the scene, according to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit. 

«As a result of this second impact, three private vehicles and two tractor-trailer trucks were completely destroyed by the fire,» the authorities said. «Additionally, two other private vehicles and an official Dodge Charger unit belonging to the National Guard sustained material damage. «

Mexican authorities inspect the incinerated frame of a tractor-trailer on a highway connecting Guadalajara and Tepic in Jalisco, Mexico, on Sunday. (Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Firefighters later extinguished the blaze, officials said. 

Local outlet El Financiero reported that the driver of the tractor-trailer was detained by the National Guard. 

Reuters contributed to this report.