CARACAS – A contingent of Venezuelan men who were relocated by U.S. authorities to a correctional facility in El Salvador at the start of this year are pressing for justice. Their calls come just days after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that the U.S. government must ensure these individuals receive due legal process.
Speaking in Caracas, the migrants expressed hope that legal organizations will assist in advancing their claims through the judiciary. The press event was coordinated by the Venezuelan government, which previously announced it had engaged legal counsel to represent the migrants' interests.
On Monday, the federal court mandated the U.S. government to provide judicial hearings to 252 Venezuelan men or alternatively to repatriate them. This ruling challenges the Trump administration's classification of these men as members of the Tren de Aragua gang, a designation which justified their deportation under a centuries-old wartime statute.
Since their incarceration in El Salvador, the men have consistently reported enduring both physical and psychological torture.
In Caracas, about twenty of the migrants gathered to publicly denounce human rights violations inflicted upon them. "Today, we demand justice before the world for the human rights abuses each of us suffered, and we seek the support of international organizations to defend us so that our rights are respected and not further violated," stated Andry Blanco during the briefing.
The migrants shared accounts of ongoing hardships linked to their detention, including pervasive fear about leaving their homes or encountering police. These fears stem from what they describe as severe mistreatment during imprisonment. The group did not articulate specific remedies they seek but conveyed that not all desire to return to the United States.
"I do not trust them," said Nolberto Aguilar when commenting on the U.S. government's role. The migrants had been transferred to El Salvador in March, and returned to Venezuela in July through a prisoner exchange agreement between the U.S. and President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Camilla Fabri, Venezuela's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Communication, indicated that the Maduro administration is collaborating with a U.S. law firm and human rights entities to "file a substantial legal claim against Trump and the U.S. government, demanding formal acknowledgment of the abuses committed against them."