Above photo: Venezuelan migrants arriving back home from Mexico on a Return to the Homeland Program flight, March 20, 2025. AFP.
Venezuelan migrant repatriation flights from the United States will restart on Sunday, March 23, as part of the Venezuelan government’s Return to the Homeland Program, aimed at addressing the challenges of forced migration since 2018. The announcement was made on Saturday, March 22, by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and head of the government delegation for the National Political Dialogues.
Rodríguez stated that the resumption of the repatriation flights comes about through coordination with US authorities. “To ensure the dignified return of our compatriots and for safeguarding their human rights, we have reached an agreement with the US government to restart the repatriation process for Venezuelan migrants,” he stated.
The first flight after the resumption of the initiative is scheduled to arrive in Venezuela on Sunday, March 23. The exact number of returnees has not yet been disclosed; however, Rodríguez noted that details would be shared in the coming hours.
He emphasized, “Migration is not a crime. We will not rest until every Venezuelan who wishes to return home can do so, and until we secure the freedom of our brothers and sisters abducted in El Salvador.”
US previously blocked repatriation efforts
On Thursday, March 20, Rodríguez accused the US State Department of “blocking and obstructing” repatriation flights to Venezuela. He claimed that the delays violated international protocols on human rights and migration.
Additionally, Rodríguez announced that the Maduro administration is engaging with “top US immigration law firms” to provide legal representation for Venezuela and its migrants. Similar efforts are underway in El Salvador, where Venezuelan officials have reportedly hired legal teams to defend deportees and secure their release after the controversial deportation by the Trump administration.
The revocation of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license permitting Chevron’s oil operations in Venezuela has intensified tensions between Caracas and Washington, with both sides accusing each other of delaying repatriation flights. Critics have condemned US President Donald Trump’s deportation policies as racist and dehumanizing. Under those policies, Venezuelan migrants are ebing routinely labeled as members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang without evidence, a practice that has drawn widespread condemnation for lack of due process and evidence.
Many analysts argue that the controversial US strategy of relocating Venezuelan migrants to Guantánamo or El Salvador is being used as leverage by the Trump administration to pressure the Venezuelan government into negotiations. This hard-line approach has faced criticism for prioritizing political coercion over humanitarian concerns, even as the Venezuelan government’s Return to the Homeland Program has facilitated the voluntary repatriation of nearly 1 million migrants since its inception in 2018.
The debate reignited this Friday when Washington announced a new deportation flight carrying Venezuelan migrants bound for Guantánamo, an infamous prison facility that has been repurposed as a detention hub for undocumented migrants.
Repatriation statistics
According to official data, 919 Venezuelans have returned home from the US via five repatriation flights since February. An initial group of 190 individuals was followed by 176 from the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, and most recently, 242 from Mexico.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stressed that “not a single one” of the repatriated individuals has ties to the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal gang dismantled by the authorities in 2023. Cabello’s statement countered allegations by the US linking deportees to the gang.
The Return to the Homeland program, launched in 2018, is aimed at assisting Venezuelans facing hardship abroad. Critics of the program claim that it serves as political propaganda for the Maduro government amid ongoing economic and social crises brought about by the US blockade. However, the program has repatriated about a million Venezuelans despite the sanctions against Conviasa, the state-owned airline in charge of the flights.