Bajo los restos de una vivienda derrumbada en La Guaira, una mujer venezolana de 69 años logró sobrevivir tras quedar atrapada durante casi tres días.

Su caso- retomado por la agencia EFE- se ha convertido en uno de los relatos más impactantes tras los dos terremotos que sacudieron el país y provocaron cientos de muertes y miles de heridos.

El dramático episodio comenzó cuando Marlene Santana recibió un golpe en la cabeza durante el colapso de su casa de cuatro pisos. La vivienda, que había resistido el deslave de 1999, no soportó la fuerza de los recientes movimientos telúricos. Mientras permanecía bajo los escombros, Santana experimentó “lagunas” en su memoria y largos silencios que la hicieron temer lo peor para su comunidad.

Durante su encierro forzado, Santana escuchó a su hermana quejarse y luego, el silencio. En la misma casa estaban también su esposo y su hija, cuyos paraderos desconoce desde entonces.

En medio de la oscuridad total, intentó orientarse al tocar objetos a su alrededor, identificando una taza de café familiar, lo que la llevó a pensar que se encontraba en la cocina.

El rescate se produjo cuando un equipo internacional, compuesto por rescatistas de El Salvador, llegó al lugar. Santana asegura haber sentido la presencia de un perro rastreador, un indicio de la llegada del grupo salvadoreño, que formó parte de la ayuda internacional desplegada tras la catástrofe.

Los rescatistas le pidieron que se arrastrara para facilitar su extracción, pero la mujer tenía la espalda lastimada y apenas podía moverse. “Me decían: ‘Señora Marlene, haga un sacrificio más’”, relató. Tras pedir unos minutos para recobrar fuerzas, finalmente logró desplazarse hasta alcanzar al personal de rescate.

La historia de Marlene Santana como muchas otras, de la enorme fuerza de voluntad de cientos de venezolanos que han esperado por horas bajo pesados bloques de cemento, oscuros y fríos, es casi heroica.

La salvadoreña se mantuvo con fe y atenta a las indicaciones de la brigada salvadoreña y se convirtió en uno de los siete rescatados que hasta ahora ha reportado el contingente salvadoreño, historias que rayan en lo milagroso y que conmueven hasta las lágrimas.

Una vez fuera de los escombros, Santana sorprendió al equipo al solicitar una Coca-Cola, gesto que el presidente de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, mencionó en sus redes sociales.

“Nuestros médicos le explicaron que, por el momento, lo más importante era hidratarla por vía intravenosa para estabilizarla”, detalló el mandatario sobre el procedimiento seguido tras el rescate.

Actualmente, la sobreviviente se encuentra en un hospital en el este de Caracas, donde recibe atención médica. A pesar de estar a salvo, permanece la incertidumbre sobre el destino de su hija, esposo y hermana, quienes también se encontraban en la vivienda al momento del derrumbe.

Los recientes terremotos provocaron una situación de emergencia en Venezuela, con un saldo oficial de 1,719 fallecidos y 5,034 personas heridas hasta el momento. Las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate siguen activas, superando ya las 120 horas desde el primer sismo.

La historia de Marlene Santana refleja tanto la devastación causada por el desastre como la coordinación internacional en tareas de salvamento.

El caso también destaca la fortaleza mental de la víctima, quien atribuye a las recomendaciones de su neumonólogo la capacidad para controlar la respiración y soportar la escasez de aire durante el encierro.

Mientras el país continúa con las labores de búsqueda, el testimonio de Santana se suma a las voces de quienes esperan reunir información sobre sus familiares desaparecidos, en medio de una tragedia que ha dejado una marca profunda en la región de La Guaira.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is facing a new round of violence in the country’s Kurdish-majority west, raising questions about whether a long-simmering Kurdish insurgency is entering a more active phase as fragile talks between Iran and Washington continue, experts say.

The flare-up matters beyond Iran’s borderlands because Kurdish opposition groups were recently viewed as a potential pressure point against Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran — and now some Kurdish voices fear they could be left exposed as Washington and Tehran return to fragile diplomacy. 

In recent days, Iranian security forces have been killed in several reported attacks and clashes across western and northwestern Iran. Four Iranian security personnel reportedly were killed and several others injured in two separate armed attacks Tuesday, reported The Jerusalem Post, in an analysis by Seth J. Frantzman, citing Iraq’s Shafaq News. 

IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’

Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members were reportedly killed and two others wounded in what it called an «armed terrorist attack» in Paveh, Iran, a border city in Kermanshah Province, reported Tasnim News, an Iranian outlet close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

In Baneh, Iran, gunmen attacked a police checkpoint, killing two police officers and injuring three other people, including a 3-year-old girl, The Jerusalem Post reported. Clashes had spread to Iran’s Paveh, Marivan and Mahabad, the outlet reported, citing Rojhelat.Info, a Kurdish-focused media account. 

The Paveh, Iran, attack was claimed by a little-known armed group called Xore Heva, or «Sun of Hope,» which said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Iran’s crackdown on protests sparked by the 2022 death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s mandatory hijab rules, The National reported.

The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East, with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. 

In Iran, many Kurds live in the country’s mountainous west and northwest, where Kurdish opposition groups have long accused Iran of political repression, executions, forced assimilation and military crackdowns. 

Iranian authorities, in turn, view armed Kurdish factions as separatist or terrorist threats, especially groups such as PJAK, which has clashed for years with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps along Iran’s western border. The fight is not simply ethnic: It is also political, rooted in Kurdish demands for rights and autonomy, Iran’s fear of separatism and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s role in suppressing dissent in border regions.

Jino Victoria Doabi, head of international relation at Hiwa, a Kurdish-led human rights organization, told Fox News Digital the latest clashes could appear to mark more than isolated exchanges.

«It looks like this could be an escalation,» Doabi said, referring to the spread of reported clashes. 

She said the initial attack appeared to be framed by Kurdish forces as retaliation, but argued the geographic spread suggested the confrontation may continue.

IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’

People hold Kurdish scarves and roses during Nowruz festivities in Saqqez, Iran, on March 15, 2024. (Barbod Khorshidi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Doabi said Kurdish anger is being driven not only by the latest casualties, but by a broader sense that Iran has been able to target Kurdish areas and opposition groups systemically without consequence.

«The Kurdish people in Iran are very dissatisfied that the IRGC can attack Kurdish parties and Kurdish fighters and no one reacts,» Doabi said.

The violence comes as Iran is moving forward with a memorandum of understanding with Washington that has drawn criticism from Iranian opposition circles. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the U.S.–Iran memorandum after receiving assurances that Iran’s rights would be protected, IranWire reported Tuesday. 

Iranian officials have described the deal as having the support of top officials, even as critics inside Iran have attacked negotiators over the arrangement, IranWire also reported. 

Doabi said Kurdish parties are deeply skeptical of any memorandum of understanding or negotiated arrangement with Iran, arguing that many Kurds believe such a deal would only strengthen the regime.

«Kurdish parties do not believe that making a deal with this regime can help the people in Iran,» Doabi said. «Their position is that a deal would only strengthen the regime.»

IRANIAN REGIME CRITIC WARNS TRUMP DEAL COULD BE ‘LIFELINE’ FOR REGIME, CLAIMS PEOPLE ARE ‘NERVOUS’

Iran-backed fighters celebrate after the IRGC attack on Israel, in Basra, Iraq, Oct. 1, 2024. (Essam Al-sudani/Reuters)

She added that many Kurds in Iran are «very angry» over the idea of any agreement with Iran, citing decades of repression, arrests and killings in Kurdish areas.

«It is going to be very dangerous for people in Iran, and especially in Kurdistan, Azerbaijan and Baluchistan,» Doabi said, «because that is where much of the resistance and activism is.»

The Kurdish groups now under scrutiny include the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan, known as PJAK, and its armed wing, the East Kurdistan Defense Units, or YRK. 

IranWire reported earlier in June that YRK accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of launching artillery and mortar attacks against its positions near Marivan, Iran, beginning June 8, prompting what YRK described as a defensive response. Iranian official outlets had not responded to YRK’s casualty claims at the time, according to IranWire.

That regional sensitivity was on display earlier in 2026, when reports emerged that Kurdish opposition groups could open a front against Iran during the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran. 

Israel had been backing plans by Iranian Kurdish militias to seize border areas inside Iran, Reuters reported in March, though the outlet said the fighters would likely need U.S. and Israeli backing to make a significant move. Five long-standing Iranian dissident groups, including PJAK, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Freedom Party, had formed an alliance, Reuters also reported. 

During the war, Trump told Reuters that he would be «all for it» if the Kurds wanted to move against Iran and said their objective should be «to win.» But Reuters reported that Kurdish commanders were frustrated by a lack of clear U.S. or Israeli strategy and that Iran’s threats helped keep Kurdish forces from launching an incursion.

Regional reports later claimed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan persuaded Trump to abandon a plan to arm Iranian opposition groups and Iraqi Kurdish groups against Tehran. Israeli media reported June 6 that Erdogan pressed Trump to scrap the proposal after details were allegedly leaked to Turkey by White House officials.

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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel walk along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar missile is unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The latest violence does not prove that a coordinated insurgency is underway. But the reported spread of clashes across multiple Kurdish areas, the involvement claimed by Kurdish militant factions and Kurdish opposition to ongoing U.S.–Iran talks suggest that Iran’s western borderlands could become a new pressure point for Tehran at a moment when the regime is trying to preserve both internal control and fragile diplomatic momentum.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Iranian officials and Kurdish representatives for comment.

Maryland Democrats rejected the idea that New York’s socialist surge in primary victories signals a broader Democratic divide, insisting the races are a reflection of individual districts rather than a national shift as the party looks ahead to the midterm elections.

«We have a big tent party, that’s what it says,» Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said when asked what New York’s election results mean for Democrats.

«This is a democracy,» he continued. «You’re going to have lots of perspectives. It’s up to the voters to decide, and they did.»

AOC ISSUES WARNING TO HER FELLOW DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS IN THE WAKE OF SOCIALISTS WINNING BIG IN NYC

The comments come after three far-left candidates won New York Democratic primaries, including two who defeated sitting Democratic incumbents, fueling debate over whether the victories signal growing influence and intraparty division heading into November’s midterms.

«I’m all about new leadership,» Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told Fox News Digital when asked about New York’s election results.

Several Maryland Democrats argued the results reflected the unique politics of individual New York districts rather than a broader ideological shift within the Democratic Party.

«I think it’s very reflective of the district,» former U.S. Capitol Police Officer and former Maryland congressional candidate Harry Dunn said.

He continued, «I think we’ve got to be careful applying what happened in New York to everywhere around the country.»

WATCH: KELLYANNE CONWAY INSISTS SOCIALIST PRIMARY VICTORIES DON’T REFLECT AMERICAN VALUES NATIONWIDE

Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn speaks during a protest outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2026, against President Donald Trump’s IRS settlement and the «Anti-Weaponization Fund.» (Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images)

Other Maryland Democrats stressed the need to respect voters’ choices in their own districts, even when they disagree with the candidates who won.

«I don’t agree with all the things they’ve said,» Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Md., said about the socialist candidates in New York. «I don’t agree with all their positions, but I respect what the voters have done in New York. That’s not reflective of the entire country.»

«Every district determines who they want,» Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., said. «We may not like it. Some people didn’t want me in. So you have to respect what a district, a congressional district, does. It’s still the rule of the people.»

But as the party strives to regain control in Congress, some moderate Democrats have sought to distance themselves from socialism and the party’s leftward push.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville condemned some of the radical views of the newly nominated Democratic candidates, particularly Darializa Avila Chevalier — a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — who ousted five-term Democrat Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y.

«She has attacked interracial relationships and the American flag. Lady, I ain’t in the same party as you. I’m sorry,» Carville said in an episode of his podcast, Politics War Room.

He continued, «Everybody’s always said, ‘No, no, we’re a coalition. We’re a big tent. And there’s some – there’s just some s— that I can’t be in the same tent with.»

JAMES CARVILLE SAYS SOCIALIST DEMOCRAT SHOULDN’T BE IN THE PARTY, CALLS HER VIEWS ‘A BRIDGE TOO FAR’

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville claims Trump won’t be president next year. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD)

«I’m a capitalist, not a socialist,» Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., previously told Fox News Digital regarding his views on the New York Democratic candidates. «And I believe in safety, not lawlessness. And I’m proud of America. I’m not ashamed of America.»

Raskin, however, defended the progressivism within his party, arguing the new wave of socialism the Democratic Party is seeing is not consistent with traditional values held by socialists.

«When people say they’re socialists today, I don’t think that they believe in dialectical materialism and dictatorship of the proletariat and classical Marxian socialism,» Raskin said. «I think what they believe is much greater equality and reduction of all the class differences that have grown up under Trump and the plutocrats.»

Republicans have increasingly pointed to the Democratic Party’s move toward socialist principles as a crux in campaigning to hold both their control of the Senate and razor-thin majority in the House.

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Most Democratic lawmakers seem to be urging their party to focus on gaining control in Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, regardless of their feelings toward some of the ideology fueling new candidates within the party.

«In a perfect world, everybody should come together — Democratic socialists, moderates,» Dunn said. «Everybody should come together and work together to represent everybody and not just the people who elected them.»