Parents of missing Camp Mystic flood victim call plan to reopen next year 'unthinkable'

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The parents of the only girl still missing from the catastrophic July 4 flood that tore through Camp Mystic in Texas are demanding that the camp halt its plans to reopen.

Officials announced this week that they plan to reopen part of the camp next year and build a memorial to the 25 campers and two teenage counselors who died. The body of 8-year-old camper Cile Steward wasn't recovered.

The reopening plan has drawn fierce complaints from some of the victims' families, who said they weren't consulted.

“To promote reopening less than three months after the tragedy — while one camper remains missing — is unthinkable,” CiCi and Will Steward wrote to Camp Mystic officials in a letter released Thursday.

“We call on Camp Mystic to halt all discussions of reopening and memorials,” they wrote. “Instead, Cile must be recovered, and you must fully confront and account for your role in the events and failures that caused the deaths of our daughters.”

Camp Mystic’s owners include the wife and other family members of Dick Eastland, who also died in the flooding.

Camp officials indicated that they would move ahead with their plan to reopen part of the camp.

“Our decision to partially reopen areas of the camp is informed by our faith and our commitment to continue the nearly century-long mission and ministry of Camp Mystic to provide a Christian camping experience for girls that allows them to grow physically, mentally and spiritually,” the camp said Thursday in a statement.

Camp officials added that they welcome participation from the families as they plan the memorial.

The children and counselors who died have become known as “Heaven's 27.” The letter was signed by CiCi and Will Steward “on behalf of ourselves and other families of the Heaven's 27.”

It wasn't immediately clear if other victims' families participated in the letter. A spokesperson for the group said the letter speaks for itself.

The camp’s planned reopening would not include the area along the Guadalupe River from where the victims were swept away. That area, which was destroyed, would remain closed. An undamaged area called Camp Mystic Cypress Lake on higher ground would reopen.

Camp officials said are working to comply with new camp safety laws that were recently passed.

The families of the campers and counselors killed at Camp Mystic came together to urge the Legislature to pass a series of bills aimed at preventing similar tragedies in the future. They delivered powerful testimony before legislative committees, often accusing Camp Mystic operators of not being adequately prepared.

The measures prohibit cabins in dangerous parts of flood zones and require camp operators to develop detailed emergency plans, to train workers, and to install and maintain emergency warning systems. One bill would allocate $240 million from the state’s rainy day fund for disaster relief, along with money for warning sirens and improved weather forecasting.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Cile Steward's first name on first reference.

FILE - The belongings of campers sit outside one of Camp Mystic's cabins near the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas, July 7, 2025, after a deadly flash flood swept through the area. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman, File)

FILE - A building at Camp Mystic is reflected in water after a flash flood swept through the area, July 7, 2025, in Hunt, Texas. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman, File)

FILE - Debris covers the area of Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, July 7, 2025, after a flash flood swept through the area. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman, File)

FILE - Campers belongings sit outside one of Camp Mystic's cabins near the Guadalupe River, July 7, 2025, in Hunt, Texas, after a flash flood swept through the area. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman, File)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)