CARACAS, Feb 21 — The United States deported 177 migrants from its military base in Guantánamo, Cuba, to their homeland in Venezuela yesterday, the latest sign of cooperation between the long-feuding governments.
Officials in Washington and Caracas confirmed that a plane left the US base, depositing the 177 people in Honduras, where they were picked up by the Venezuelan government.
The carefully choreographed operation would have seemed impossible just weeks ago when the United States accused President Nicolás Maduro of stealing an election.
But since President Donald Trump entered office four weeks ago, relations have thawed, with the White House prioritising immigration cooperation.
Trump envoy Richard Grenell travelled to Caracas on Jan 31 and met Maduro, who is the subject of a $25 million US bounty for his arrest.
Grenell brokered the release of six US prisoners. A day later, Trump announced Venezuela had agreed to accept illegal migrants deported from the United States.
Venezuela said it had “requested the repatriation of a group of compatriots who were unjustly taken to the Guantánamo 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 Guantánamo Bay to Honduras yesterday for pickup by the Venezuelan government.”
Caracas broke off ties with Washington in Jan 2019 after the United States recognised then-opposition leader Juan Guaidó as “interim president” following 2018 elections that were widely rejected as neither free nor fair.
In Oct 2023, Maduro allowed US planes with deported migrants to fly into Venezuela but withdrew permission four months later.
His government has been flying free or subsidised repatriation flights for Venezuelans wishing to return home.
Venezuela is keen to end crippling US sanctions and to move beyond the controversy over elections last Jul that the United States and numerous other countries said were won by the opposition.
The contested election results sparked protests in which at least 2,400 people were arrested, with 28 killed and about 200 wounded.
Human rights groups in the United States have sued to gain access to migrants held in Guantánamo after Trump ordered the base to prepare to receive some 30,000 people who entered the United States without papers.
Guantánamo is synonymous with abuses against terror suspects held there after the Sept 11 attacks.
The United States yesterday deported another group of 135 migrants of various nationalities to Costa Rica, from where they will be repatriated to their home countries, including China, Russia, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Vietnam, the government in San José said.
Costa Rica, along with Panama, is serving as a way station for migrants deported by Trump’s government. — AFP
