Venezuelan men expelled to El Salvador megaprison faced ‘state-sanctioned torture', say lawyers

Indian Express

21 hours ago

When José Manuel Ramos Bastidas finally reunited with his family in El Tocuyo, Venezuela, it marked the end of an ordeal that began with his deportation by the Trump administration and ended in what his lawyers describe as 'state-sanctioned torture' inside El Salvador's notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) megaprison. His emotional return was captured as his wife, child, and mother embraced him wearing shirts printed with his image.
'We have been waiting for this moment for months, and I feel like I can finally breathe,' said his partner, Roynerliz Rodríguez, according to The Guardian. 'These last months have been a living nightmare… There must be justice for all those who suffered this torture.'
Ramos Bastidas was one of 252 Venezuelan men deported to Cecot as part of a deal negotiated between the US and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The agreement reportedly involved the release of 10 detained US citizens and several Venezuelan political prisoners in exchange for the deported individuals.
The men were finally repatriated last week.
Lawyers representing the men say many endured routine beatings, psychological torture, and severe deprivation. Ramos Bastidas and others were allegedly told they would spend between 30 and 90 years at Cecot unless President Trump intervened. They were repeatedly shot with rubber bullets, including on the final day of their detention.
Another deportee, Edicson David Quintero Chacón, described to his lawyer the experience of being kept in isolation for prolonged periods. He believed he would die there.
His scars from daily beatings remain, and he said detainees were only allowed soap or bathing privileges when the prison was being showcased to outside visitors, forcing them to choose between hygiene and public humiliation.
The food was minimal, and detainees were forced to drink dirty water. The lights stayed on through the night, preventing any rest. 'And the guards would also come in at night and beat them,' said his lawyer, Stephanie M Alvarez-Jones of the National Immigration Project.
In a legal filing requesting dismissal of her months-long petition for the men's release, Alvarez-Jones stated: 'He will likely carry the psychological impact of this torture his whole life. The courts must never look away when those who wield the power of the US government, at the highest levels, engage in such state-sanctioned violence.'
Ramos Bastidas had never committed any crime, nor had he ever lived freely in the United States. After spending his life working in Venezuela to support his family, he left the country last year to seek better economic opportunities and afford treatment for his infant with severe asthma.
In March 2024, he entered the US at a legal port of entry using the CBP One app to apply for asylum. Although his application was denied, he agreed to deportation. But US Customs and Border Protection flagged him as a suspected member of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, based solely on an unverified tip from Panamanian officials and his tattoos.
Despite agreeing to voluntary return, Ramos Bastidas remained in detention for months.
In December, Venezuela was not accepting deportees, prompting Ramos Bastidas to request release so he could arrange his own return. But the political situation shifted in January when Donald Trump was sworn in again as president. Soon after, Ramos Bastidas saw other Venezuelan detainees being sent to Guantánamo Bay and feared he was next.
On March 14, he told his family he might finally be returning to Venezuela. The next day, he was sent to Cecot. 'They could have deported him to Venezuela,' Alvarez-Jones said. 'Instead, the US government made a determination to send him to be tortured in Cecot.'
Now back in Venezuela, survivors and their families are calling for justice. Lawyers and human rights advocates argue that the use of Cecot for deported migrants is grave abuse of power.
(With inputs from The Guardian)