Editorial by Dr. Juan Barreto – Children are both our sanctuary and our greatest treasure. They are the chest that holds innocence, purity, and the promise of tomorrow. When we believe everything is lost, we can still cling to the hope that one day, something may yet be saved. They are that last gift at the bottom of Pandora’s box—the hope we hold onto in the midst of horror and shipwreck.
We worry about, and grieve for, the children who wander among cars and traffic lights. Now we grieve even more for those who have lost not only their homes but also the embrace of a family. The orphans. The children who lost limbs. The ones who receive no attention from those who parade across the media.
Who will care for them?
Who will embrace them every morning?
Whose blessing will they ask for, and whose smile will greet them?
A society that fails to care for its children and its elderly has descended into barbarism.
The children rescued today cannot be handed over to the degradation of oblivion. Those now living in shelters, those left orphaned, and those separated from their families deserve to find an entire society ready to become their family.
We must announce, without delay, a comprehensive plan—an emergency program that guarantees protection and care for our children and the tragedy they now endure. We cannot allow horror to steal their laughter.
That effort should be led by figures such as Dudamel and other distinguished Venezuelans.
No one should politicize this initiative. It must become the strategic rear guard of a nation that still hopes to reclaim its sovereignty one day. International agencies and universities should coordinate and audit this effort from the outset. It must also include a security fund managed honestly and with complete transparency.
We must do everything within our power to prevent their suffering from stretching into a lifetime of everyday poverty.
The extraordinary acts of solidarity now unfolding in La Guaira prove that a united people become an unstoppable force when they choose to act.
That force cannot fade away or dissolve once this tragedy passes. We must engrave it into our very skin and raise it as our banner.
All the strength that now drives the rescue effort must become the daily act of resistance against our nation’s greatest tragedy. It must grow into an organized movement of love and life that stands against sorrow and death.
May every boy and every girl, regardless of circumstance, find in us not only the promise of a plan or a public policy, but also the warmth and commitment of an extended family that will never rest until they are safe, educated, and, above all, happy.
For as long as even one child lives with hunger or fear, the mission to rescue our own humanity remains unfinished.
I give thanks to the rescuers and to those children who fought to survive and overcame horror. Thank you for reminding us that, in the face of unspeakable suffering, the only worthy response is a collective act of love and strength—one so immense that language cannot contain it; only lived experience can reveal it as life itself.
Let us not lose hope! Let us keep searching through the ruins. Let us keep demanding action. Above all, let us keep being the embrace they so desperately need. There is light beyond every collapse.
At this very hour, children remain lost—entire universes of dreams sinking beneath the weight of cold indifference and petty emotions.
“At this very hour, there is a child in the street…”
