Add The California Post on Google SAN DIEGO –– As the Dodgers and Padres opened their three-game series at Petco Park on Friday night, both teams had the letters “VZ” emblazoned on the side of their caps in recognition of the devastating earthquakes that rocked Venezuela this past week.
For Dodgers shortstop and Venezuelan native Miguel Rojas, it was a gesture that hit frighteningly close to home.
As Rojas and the Dodgers were playing in Minnesota on Wednesday night, the veteran shortstop’s wife and two kids were back in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas when a pair of 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck, causing widespread devastation right around where they were staying.
Thankfully, Rojas said, all of his family members were unharmed in the shaking –– which has thus far resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths and left thousands more injured.
Still, Rojas was wracked with devastated and conflicting emotions over the rest of the destruction in his home nation.
“I feel selfish saying everything is okay, because everything [being] OK with my family doesn’t mean everything is OK with the country,” he said. “We’re going through really tough moments right now. I just wish and hope everyone will pray for us because it’s devastating seeing how many families have lost everything.”
Rojas said his immediate family members were back in Venezuela this week taking care of some personal documentation. His wife, Mariana, was getting her passport renewed. His kids, who were both born in the United States during Rojas’ big-league career, were officially getting their Venezuelan citizenship.
When the earthquakes struck, Rojas said the building they were staying in held up well enough for them to escape down a stairwell.
“Literally two blocks away from where my family was, two buildings collapsed. The whole buildings,” he said, later adding: “I’m lucky. I’m really lucky to have my family still alive and still with me.”
Rojas said he has been in contact with his wife the last couple days, but doesn’t know when they will be able to return to the U.S. Among his more extended family, he had heard of a couple of relatives who had lost structures or suffered damage.
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“I feel like I’m so far away from them,” he said.
The more heartbreaking stories, Rojas noted, have come from former teammates he played with in the city of La Guaira, which is where his Venezuelan Winter League team is located and the earthquakes’ epicenters were nearest.
“It’s really tough to see teammates of mine and players that I played with at some point in my career to lose family members, to lose kids,” he said. “It’s really devastating. It’s been really hard for me to go to sleep at night … I just feel terrible.”
Rojas –– who is one of two Venezuelans on the Dodgers’ active roster, along with reliever Edgardo Henriquez –– was grateful that the Dodgers and Padres had come together to wear the “VZ” caps for Friday’s game, hoping it would help raise awareness for not only the tragedy, but the long recovery process ahead.
“I just want to be able to put a message out there for everybody to keep us on their mind, because it’s a really difficult moment,” he said. “It’s not [just] what happened, but what’s going to happen now in the future for people to recover from everything.”
