Above photo: Venezuelan migrants, unjustly accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua and deported by the US government, are detained and subjected to inhuman treatment at the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. El Salvador Presidential Press Office.
Amid US Anti-Migrant Crackdown.
Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez declared Monday that the government will mobilize multilateral organizations and international law firms to repatriate citizens detained abroad. He accused the United States of “kidnapping” Venezuelan migrants and collaborating with El Salvador in a “modern slave trade.”
The announcement came after reports that more than 200 Venezuelan migrants were transferred from U.S. custody to prisons in El Salvador based on unproven allegations of ties to the Aragua Train criminal gang. Rodríguez emphasized that none of the detainees had criminal records in either El Salvador or the US. He added that they were denied due process, stating, “They have been denied basic rights – not even allowed to speak before a judge.”
Since the start of the year, Venezuela has received four repatriation flights of Venezuelans deported from the US, including one flight from Guantanamo, totaling 609 nationals. Venezuelan authorities, after careful background checks have not found a single one of them to be linked to the Aragua Train gang. Only 15 of them had criminal records, some for minor offenses.
Controversial comparisons
Rodríguez condemned a March 14 US presidential proclamation as “segregationist,” drawing parallels to Nazi Germany. “How do these deportations differ from Jews being loaded onto death trains?” he asked. “Migrants don’t know their destination – treated like animals, their children kidnapped.”
He also criticized Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, alleging a $6,000-per-migrant payment from the US and exploitation as “cheap labor.” A video presentation showed Venezuelan mothers claiming their children – including a 14-year-old – were arbitrarily detained despite clean records. “We owe these mothers’ tears action,” Rodríguez declared.
Repatriation plan
The government announced:
- A “Venezuela Dignity Always” campaign urging citizens to avoid US travel and encouraging migrants to return
- Nationwide protests starting Tuesday, March 18
- Petitions on Wednesday to support legal actions
- Two web platforms through which to lodge complaints: comitedefensaamigrante.gob.ve and @Migrantesven on Instagram
“We will send every necessary plane to bring our people home,” Rodríguez said, while adding that “no Venezuelan should risk this modern slavery. We won’t rest until all are repatriated.”
Far-right opposition
Rodríguez blamed opposition figures including Leopoldo López, Julio Borges, and María Corina Machado for enabling migration “through coyote networks” that allegedly profited from sanctions. “They grew rich on stolen funds and USAID money while pushing policies that forced migration,” he said.
Aragua Train
Dismissing claims of a connection between the Aragua Train gang and the deported Venezuelan migrants as forgery, Rodríguez insisted that Venezuela dismantled the gang years ago. “This is a pretext to criminalize migrants,” he said. “Any past gang activity was funded by opposition groups to destabilize our nation.”
International response
PSUV leader Diosdado Cabello echoed calls for unity, comparing Salvadoran detention centers to “Nazi-style concentration camps” and demanding UN intervention. A protest is planned for Tuesday afternoon in Caracas against the US invocation of the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act and the “kidnapping of Venezuelan migrants.”