A new planeload of deported migrants lands in Venezuela amid growing tensions with U.S.
File photo: A group of 242 Venezuelan migrants, including women and children, return to their country on a plane from Mexico. On Friday, another 178 people deported from the U.S. arrived in Caracas. Venezuelan government photo
A plane carrying 178 Venezuelan migrants landed in Caracas early Friday morning, marking the latest deportation effort since the Venezuelan socialist regime resumed deportation flights from the United States last week. The returnees, 165 men and 13 women, were greeted by government officials who condemned their treatment abroad and accused the Trump administration of falsely linking them to the feared Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
The aircraft, operated by the state-owned airline Conviasa, touched down at Simón Bolívar International Airport near the capital, where Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello — the head of the same repressive apparatus that drove many of them to flee — welcomed them personally. “This flight brings back 178 of our compatriots who have been persecuted and stigmatized in the United States,” Cabello declared in a broadcast aired by the state-run Venezuelan Television. For now, most of the deported migrants who have been sent back to Venezuela have been allowed to reunite with their families after authorities confirmed they were not wanted criminals or dissidents. However, Cabello lashed out at U.S. authorities, accusing them of unjustly detaining and deporting Venezuelans under false claims of gang affiliations. “The United States government divides families; it mutilates them,” he asserted, adding that some returnees reported being handcuffed for three days before deportation. He also reiterated Venezuela’s demand for the release of nationals detained under allegedly false charges of being gang members in a mega prison in El Salvador.
Since the deportation flights resumed in February, 1,296 Venezuelans have been repatriated, including 176 who were temporarily held at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo, according to regime officials. The deportation flights were initially part of a controversial deal brokered by former Trump administration envoy Richard Grenell, who met with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on Jan. 31. The agreement aimed to facilitate the return of deportees in exchange for allowing Venezuela to increase oil exports to the U.S. However, the deal collapsed when Trump accused Maduro of stalling the repatriation process, leading his administration to reinstate harsh sanctions, including revoking oil giant Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela and imposing a 25% tariff on Venezuelan crude and gas exports. Trump has since doubled down on his claims that Maduro deliberately sent thousands of hardened criminals into the U.S., characterizing it as an invasion and citing it as justification for invoking war-time powers to expedite deportations. Tren de Aragua, the gang at the center of these accusations, was formed in the notorious Tocorón prison in Venezuela’s Aragua state and has since spread across the region, earning a reputation for ruthless violence. The Trump administration alleges that Maduro and Cabello are not only complicit in its rise but actively control it through the Soles drug cartel, using the gang as a deadly enforcement squad.
