Former Tenerife goalkeeper Dani Hernández watches Venezuela earthquake aftermath with anguish

"In Venezuela they say I'm Spanish, and here they say I'm Venezuelan," says Dani Hernández, former goalkeeper of Club Deportivo Tenerife and one of many Canarians born in Venezuela as a result of the islands' historic migration to that South American country. "I have always felt I belong to both sides," he says — which is why he has been following events in Venezuela with close attention after two earthquakes struck at the end of June 2026.

A family history of migration

In an interview published by El Día and La Provincia, the goalkeeper recounts how it was his grandparents who decided to cross the Atlantic in search of a better future. His father worked in a car-parts shop his grandparents owned, and his mother was studying her degree in the country when they met; he and his brother were born there. When he was one year old, the family returned to the Canary Islands.

Hernández admits he has few memories of his childhood in Venezuela, but his dual nationality allowed him to forge new ties with his birthplace when he was called up to the Venezuela national football team at the age of 24. Venezuelan culture, however, was always present at home: "Every week we had arepas and cachapas at home, and we would go to my grandmother's to watch matches — we always ate them at half-time."

The house where he was born is in La Guaira, one of the areas worst hit by the earthquakes. When he sees the images, he asks his mother whether she recognises the buildings and neighbourhoods that have collapsed, to find out whether their old home or those of his friends have been affected.

Days of anguish

The former goalkeeper says he went through "a few days of anguish" because some of his friends from the national team were not responding due to communication problems, "but thank God both friends and family are safe."

According to records compiled by Transfermarkt and Wikipedia, Daniel Hernández Santos is a goalkeeper born in Caracas on 21 October 1985. He spent most of his career in Spanish football and was capped for Venezuela. He played for CD Tenerife between 2015 and 2022, the longest spell of his career at a single club.

The scale of the disaster

The two earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck the northern coast of Venezuela on Wednesday 24 June 2026, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as cited by international media. The state of La Guaira was the worst-affected area, with numerous buildings collapsed.

Official casualty figures rose steadily in the days that followed. An initial toll from interim president Delcy Rodríguez put the death count at 32 with more than 700 injured; this was later revised to 164 dead and 971 injured. On 28 June, National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez placed the figure at 1,450 deaths, according to official tallies reported by Telecinco, Infobae and El Cronista. The interim government declared a state of national emergency and designated La Guaira a "disaster zone."

Regarding Spanish nationals, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on 28 June that 17 had died and 150 were missing. Among the victims with Canarian ties was Olga Morales, the daughter of Canarian emigrants who kept a home in La Gomera, according to El Día.

The Canarian institutional response

The Consejo de Gobierno de Canarias approved an institutional declaration on Friday 26 June and decreed official mourning for the remainder of that day and the days of 27, 28 and 29 June. The regional government, led by Fernando Clavijo, announced it would work with the 22 Canarian organisations in Venezuela and their six decentralised offices to strengthen social, healthcare, medicines and food programmes, according to spokesperson Alfonso Cabello.