For two weeks, Blanca Martínez Coronado held a single conviction: that her son Lucas Gámez could still be alive beneath the rubble of the building that collapsed after the devastating double earthquake that struck Venezuela on June 24. While rescue crews worked tirelessly in La Guaira, the mother of the eight-year-old Argentine boy shared every moment of the wait on her social networks.
Her last post, made hours before the confirmation of Lucas’s body being found, today moves readers for the hope she still carried.
The image showed the collapsed building where search efforts continued. On that photograph, Blanca wrote a brief yet heartbreaking message: “I ask for prayers”, accompanied by a heart emoji and another of hands joined in prayer.
A mother who never stopped waiting
Since the day of the tragedy, Blanca and Marcos Gámez, Lucas’s father, stayed with the rescuers, following every advancement of the operation.
In the early days of the search, the woman recounted that she had even managed to enter the collapsed structure to try to make sure her son could hear her voice.
“I asked to go in because I needed him to hear me. I went down with a helmet and began shouting: ‘I’m here, don’t give up, we’re here with Dad’.” she recalled at the time.
She also confessed that her maternal intuition led her to believe Lucas was still alive.
“We pray, we keep a positive mindset“, she said in an interview. And she added a sentence that moved thousands: “The heart of a mother knows everything and tells me that he is alive”.
During those days, the family received support from neighbors, volunteers and rescuers. Even, on the nine-year-old’s birthday they brought a cake to the vicinity of the building to honor him as the search continued.
The discovery that ended the search
This Wednesday, after 14 days of uninterrupted work, rescuers from Brazil, El Salvador and Venezuela located Lucas’s body among the debris of the La Guaira building.
According to authorities, the boy was found alongside two of his uncles and other victims who had remained trapped since the collapse.
The news brought to an end a search that had moved thousands of people in both countries and that was followed minute by minute through her parents’ social networks.
Today, that final post by Blanca, with an image of the destroyed building and a plea for prayers, remains as a reflection of the faith and the hope that sustained her until the end while she waited to embrace her son again.
