Venezuela Volleyball Captain Wilner Rivas Confirmed Dead After Massive Earthquake Tragedy
The captain of the Venezuela men's national volleyball team, Wilner Rivas, has died following the massive earthquakes that struck Venezuela in June 2026. The 31-year-old Olympian and his wife and son were victims of the building collapses in the La Guaira region.
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1 MIN READ- Wilner Rivas, captain of the Venezuela men's national volleyball team, died in the June 2026 earthquakes.
- His wife, Marianhel Perez, and their son, Theo, were also confirmed among the fatalities in La Guaira.
- Rivas, an Olympian, had a distinguished career playing for clubs in France and Spain.
- The earthquakes in Venezuela have claimed over 1,700 lives, causing widespread infrastructure collapse.
The sports community is in mourning following the tragic confirmation that Wilner Rivas, the captain of the Venezuela men's national volleyball team, has lost his life in the devastating earthquakes that struck the region on June 24, 2026. At only 31 years old, the athlete was among the many victims of this massive natural disaster.
The Venezuela Volleyball Federation (FVV) officially announced the heartbreaking news, confirming that Rivas, along with his wife, Marianhel Perez, and their young son, Theo, perished after their home in the severely affected region of La Guaira collapsed. The family had been reported missing in the immediate aftermath of the seismic events, which registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, leaving the nation in shock.
Tragedy Strikes the Venezuela Men's National Volleyball Team
Wilner Rivas was a distinguished figure in international sports, having represented Venezuela at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His professional career saw him compete for various clubs across Europe. For the 2025-26 season, he had been playing for the French club Narbonne, and he had already secured a contract to join the Spanish team Guaguas for the upcoming season. The FVV expressed deep condolences to his teammates, family, and loved ones, acknowledging the massive void left by his sudden passing.
The catastrophic seismic activity has claimed more than 1,700 lives across Venezuela, with La Guaira bearing the brunt of the destruction. Amidst the ongoing recovery operations, the sports world has been particularly hard-hit by these events. In another tragic instance, Lucas Trejo, an Argentine professional footballer playing for Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira, also suffered the loss of his wife and two young children after their apartment building was reduced to rubble by the tremors.
While search and rescue teams continue to work tirelessly to locate survivors—a feat recently marked by the miraculous discovery of a man pulled from the debris eight days after the initial impact—the scale of the tragedy remains immense. The sports fraternity, both locally and internationally, has rallied to support those affected by this unprecedented national crisis, emphasizing unity as they navigate this profound sorrow.
