Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – The United States deported 177 migrants from its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba to their homeland in Venezuela on Thursday, marking the latest sign of cooperation between the long-feuding governments. Officials in Washington and Caracas confirmed that a plane left the US base and deposited the 177 individuals in Honduras, where they were picked up by the Venezuelan government. The deportees then boarded a flag carrier Conviasa flight that arrived in Maiquetía late Thursday. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello welcomed the all-male group of deportees at the airport, telling them, “Welcome to the homeland.” “Those who returned, in theory, are all Venezuelans who were in Guantanamo,” Cabello informed journalists, adding that another deportation flight was expected to arrive at the end of the week.
This carefully choreographed operation would have seemed impossible just weeks ago when the United States accused President Nicolas Maduro of stealing an election. However, since President Donald Trump entered office four weeks ago, relations have thawed, with the White House prioritizing immigration cooperation. Maduro stated that the handover was at the “direct request” of his government to that of Trump. “We have rescued 177 new migrants from Guantanamo,” he declared at an official event. Trump envoy Richard Grenell traveled to Caracas on January 31 and met with Maduro, who is the subject of a $25 million US bounty for his arrest. Grenell managed to broker the release of six US prisoners. A day later, Trump announced that Venezuela had agreed to accept illegal migrants deported from the United States.
Venezuela stated it had “requested the repatriation of a group of compatriots who were unjustly taken to the Guantanamo naval base.” “This request has been accepted and the citizens have been transferred to Honduras, from where they will be recovered,” the government said in a statement. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed they had transported “177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government.”
Caracas broke off ties with Washington in January 2019 after the United States recognized then-opposition leader Juan Guaido as “interim president” following 2018 elections that were widely rejected as neither free nor fair. In October 2023, Maduro allowed US planes with deported migrants to fly into Venezuela but withdrew permission four months later. His government has since been operating free or subsidized repatriation flights for Venezuelans wishing to return home. Venezuela is eager to end crippling US sanctions and to move beyond the controversy over elections last July, which the United States and numerous other countries asserted were won by the opposition.
The contested election results ignited protests that resulted in at least 28 fatalities, around 200 injuries, and 2,400 arrests. Human rights groups in the United States have initiated lawsuits to gain access to migrants held in Guantanamo following Trump’s order to prepare the base to receive approximately 30,000 people who entered the United States without documentation.
Guantanamo is synonymous with abuses against terror suspects held there after the September 11 attacks. On Thursday, the United States also deported another group of 135 migrants of various nationalities — including 65 children — to Costa Rica, from where they will be repatriated to their home countries, including China, Russia, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Vietnam, according to the government in San Jose. Costa Rica, along with Panama, is serving as a way station for migrants deported by Trump’s administration.
© 2024 AFP
