While Venezuela counted its dead, four CICPC officers counted dollars.
The double earthquake of June 24, 2026 left 1,943 dead and more than 10,500 injured in La Guaira state, according to official figures that the UN believes are even higher. Among the Vallarta Residences, in Playa Grande, rescuers and neighbors searched for survivors under tons of concrete. An inspector known as “Ragnar” was looking for something else: a bag with about 10,000 dollars that he pulled from the rubble for himself.
The neighbors recorded him, surrounded him, and tore the bills from his hands until they ripped them, fed up with being robbed by the one who was supposed to protect them. The director of the CICPC, Douglas Rico, confirmed the arrest of Aguilar Reyes Maya, Fredy Lugo Oliveros, Roger Omaña, and Josué Burgos Sánchez, who were expelled from the institution. Cabello promised “zero tolerance”, although he himself had previously admitted that 28,000 police officers were dismissed for corruption in two years. How many more people will have lost everything twice: first to the quake, then to the one who swore to protect them?
