Ozzie Guillen watched two deadly earthquakes strike northern Venezuela from TV, his wife urged him not to question why. From Chicago, the longtime White Sox star and Venezuelan icon says his hands feel tied as the death toll rises and thousands of homes are da
When Ozzie Guillen saw the images rolling in from Venezuela after the double earthquakes hit, he felt it in his body before he found the words. The instinct, he said, was to shake his fist at the sky.
His wife, Ibis, talked him down—right there on the White Sox postgame show as he spoke with his partner, Chuck Garfien. “My wife said, ‘Don’t ask the question why,’” Guillen said. “Why did this happen to the same people again?”
It’s hard to overstate how much Venezuela sits inside Guillen’s life. For more than four decades he has been a colorful presence in baseball—as a player. a manager. and now in Chicago in a third unexpected act co-starring with Garfien on one of the sport’s best studio shows. And every winter, almost without fail, Guillen returns home with his family to spend the offseason. He and Ibis raised their three sons—Ozzie Jr. Oney and Ozney—there when they were not in the U.S.
La Guaira, a port city and resort town west of the capital, Caracas, is where the connection turns intimate. Baseball is woven through it. The city’s team. Tiburones de La Guaira—known as the Sharks of La Guaira—won the Venezuelan Winter League championship eight times. and Guillen remembers playing there growing up and admiring the club. As manager in 2024, he guided the Tiburones to both the Venezuelan championship and the Caribbean Series title.
“I played all my career, all my life, on the La Guaira team,” Guillen said during a break in his TV duties. “That’s why that little town means something to me. I grew up in baseball playing for that club, admiring that club. I played there since I was 16 years old.”
La Guaira now sits at the center of a new catastrophe.
Twenty-seven years after mudslides devastated the city, the ground shook again. Guillen was in Venezuela in 1999 when mudslides consumed La Guaira, resulting in the deaths of more than 30,000 people. He and Ibis were directly involved in relief efforts. After that disaster, Guillen responded by establishing the Ozzie Guillen Foundation (OG13.org).
This week, the tragedy arrived in a brutal, quick sequence. On Wednesday night, two earthquakes struck northern Venezuela just west of La Guaira and the capital, Caracas, in a span of just 39 seconds. One measured magnitude 7.2 and the other 7.5.
As of Monday morning, the death toll was estimated at 1,450, with experts warning it is likely a significant undercount. A preliminary analysis estimates that about 60,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. Rescue crews from around the world—including the U.S.—have responded.
But for Guillen, the worst part isn’t only what he sees. It’s what he can’t do.
“I feel like my hands are tied,” he said. “I wish I could bring an airplane there.” He said he loves the country—“So, so special”—and he is grieving for those who have lost their lives and for people who are mourning.
In his family, loss is not abstract. One of his sisters lost a home. So did a nephew. All family members are safe, Guillen said.
In the United States, if someone loses their home, insurance can offer a measure of protection. In Venezuela, Guillen said, the stakes are harsher: “In Venezuela, if you lose your house, you lose everything you worked so hard to have and spent years working toward.”
His foundation is accepting donations. He said Chicagoland has already responded, and that local restaurants have organized drop-off spots for supplies. White Sox Charities has also moved quickly—coordinating with Guillen’s charity to prepare a coordinated response.
Christine O’Reilly. the executive director of White Sox Charities. described the grief across the organization and the long road ahead. “The entire White Sox family is devastated by this tragedy,” she said. “And I think it’s going to take a long time for the country to recover and the people to recover. . . . All of our hearts are hurting.”.
O’Reilly tied the commitment to a wider Venezuela-Sox lineage that runs through more than one generation of players. reaching back through Chico Carrasquel and including Luis Aparicio. Magglio Ordonez. Freddy Garcia. and current Sox utility player Luisangel Acuna. the younger brother of Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr.
“We really stand on the shoulders of our fans,” O’Reilly said. “And I know they’ll be at the ready to contribute and help support once we are able to put some finishing touches on what that might look like.”
Still, there is another feeling inside the despair—one Guillen admits he didn’t expect to find while watching from afar.
“I am 62 years old,” he said. “And I have never seen the country come together like this.”
Ozzie Guillen Venezuela earthquake La Guaira White Sox Charities Ozzie Guillen Foundation OG13 Caracas Tiburones de La Guaira
So sad. Earthquakes are wild, I don’t even know what to say.
Wait, he’s in Chicago but still talking like he can fix it? I mean what’s he supposed to do, like send thoughts and prayers? Also the “don’t ask why” part got me—people always ask why, right.
I think it’s messed up how he “can’t question why” but meanwhile the news keeps saying it’s “nature” like nobody caused it. If it happened “again” maybe the government messed up something with buildings or whatever. Idk I’m not an expert, just feels like they should’ve been more prepared.
The article reads like baseball is saving lives? Like I get he’s Venezuelan and all, but he’s on TV in Chicago talking about it. Meanwhile people are stuck under rubble. Also “thousands of homes are da” — is that a typo? Like did they not finish the sentence? Either way, praying for everyone.