‘I'm free': Venezuelans held in El Salvador reunite with families
Singer Arturo Suarez was greeted with hugs and tears in working class El Valle, south of the capital Caracas, by his sister, aunt and cousins. He wiped away tears as he spoke to his wife and daughter, who live in Chile, via video call.
"I'm free, thank God, at last," said Suarez, who was arrested in February in North Carolina while filming a music video. He serenaded a crowd gathered in his family's living room and said "I still can't believe it".
The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador from the US in March after President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures.
The deportations drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and a legal battle with the Trump administration. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties.
His wife has said Suarez had gone to the US to boost his emerging music career and he denied being a member of Tren de Aragua.
"I thought of my daughter, my wife, my siblings, my family. I asked for strength to not give up, to not allow myself to die," Suarez told journalists about his detention.
"I didn't because I'm tough, I'm a Venezuelan."
Suarez and the other detainees deported to El Salvador from the US were returned to Venezuela last Friday in a prisoner exchange. Since arriving, they have been undergoing medical checks and interviews with officials.
Brothers Darwin Hernandez, a 30-year-old barber, and 23-year-old house painter Yeison Hernandez, were arrested alongside Suarez in February. They arrived home to their parents and other family members in central Valencia on Tuesday.
"I asked God only for freedom, but more than anything also to be alive, to be able to leave and be with my family like we are now," said Darwin Hernandez, a husband and father of a six-year-old daughter.
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