US exchanges Venezuelans held in El Salvador prison for Americans
The 252 men were accused – without evidence – of being gang members and flown to the notorious CECOT "anti-terror" jail last March. There, they were shackled, shorn and paraded before cameras – becoming emblematic of Trump's immigration crackdown and drawing howls of protest. On Friday, after months of legal challenges and political stonewalling, the men arrived at an airport near Caracas. "Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country," Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on social media.
The men had been deported from the United States under rarely used wartime powers and denied court hearings. Exiled Salvadoran rights group Cristosal believes that just seven of the 252 men had criminal records. Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro thanked Trump for "the decision to rectify this totally irregular situation."
'High price'
Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was "kidnapped" by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January. "We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal," it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying. Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention.
Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been "rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected." The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the US after their Venezuelan parents were deported.
Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump's administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations. It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States.
Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children. The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life.
Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
The day Silicon Valley's oligarchs kissed Trump's ring
The seating plan, orchestrated by Donald Trump, had been deliberately designed to place them directly beneath a painting of a historic surrender: that of the British General John Burgoyne in 1777 to George Washington, the future first president of the United States, to whom Trump sometimes compares himself. But did they even notice? At that moment, the tech industry's leading executives seemed preoccupied with the cameras filming them, lined up in neat rows as they awaited the start of the inauguration ceremony on January 20. The whole world witnessed the scene, without knowing what was happening backstage. And yet, all the protagonists were there, at the heart of the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy that Trump supporters had stormed on January 6, 2021, or hidden away in the back rooms of power. Here is the place to start to understand this new nomenklatura, which made its fortune in less than a quarter-century by embedding itself into our lives. Even before entering the rotunda, where the crème de la crème of the guests were set to attend the ceremony, the first attendees heard the thunderous commotion that often signals Jeff Bezos's arrival, flanked by his assistants, a makeup artist and bodyguards. Within the empire that his company, Amazon, has become, he is a ruthless and blunt leader. With a "low tolerance for stupidity," his executives say, as if to excuse him. On the outside, he is the opposite: friendly, jovial, attentive to others and extremely flexible in his politics. In short, a good-natured person. Not long ago, the billionaire who transformed online retail – and, often, the labor market – with his all-encompassing delivery services, was still seen as a staunch Democrat. The Washington Post, the prestigious newspaper he bought in 2013, had endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then Joe Biden in 2020. But business is business.
France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran
Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week", the source said. The trio had recently warned that international sanctions against Iran could be reactivated if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table. Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source. Consultations are ongoing regarding a date and location for the talks, the report said. "Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme," the German source said. Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. On June 13, Israel launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities. The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. Kremlin meeting Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran. However, US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks. The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes. Meanwhile on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader on nuclear issues. Larijani "conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting. Putin had expressed Russia's "well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme", he added. Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran's clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel's bombing campaign. Snapback mechanism Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump's first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran. European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran. After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had no grounds for reactivating sanctions. "If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the 'snap-back' for which they (have) absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds," Araghchi said on X. However, the German source on Sunday said that "if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3". Iran last week said there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. © 2025 AFP
France 24
12 hours ago
- France 24
Western aid cuts cede ground to China in Southeast Asia: study
The region is in an "uncertain moment", facing cuts in official development finance from the West as well as "especially punitive" US trade tariffs, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said. "Declining Western aid risks ceding a greater role to China, though other Asian donors will also gain in importance," it said. Total official development finance to Southeast Asia -- including grants, low-rate loans and other loans -- grew "modestly" to US$29 billion in 2023, the annual report said. But US President Donald Trump has since halted about US$60 billion in development assistance -- most of the United States' overseas aid programme. Seven European countries -- including France and Germany -- and the European Union have announced US$17.2 billion in aid cuts to be implemented between 2025 and 2029, it said. And the United Kingdom has said it is reducing annual aid by US$7.6 billion, redirecting government money towards defence. Based on recent announcements, overall official development finance to Southeast Asia will fall by more than US$2 billion by 2026, the study projected. "These cuts will hit Southeast Asia hard," it said. "Poorer countries and social sector priorities such as health, education, and civil society support that rely on bilateral aid funding are likely to lose out the most." Higher-income countries already capture most of the region's official development finance, said the institute's Southeast Asia Aid Map report. Poorer countries such as East Timor, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are being left behind, creating a deepening divide that could undermine long-term stability, equity and resilience, it warned. Despite substantial economic development across most of Southeast Asia, around 86 million people still live on less than US$3.65 a day, it said. 'Global concern' "The centre of gravity in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing but also Tokyo and Seoul," the study said. As trade ties with the United States have weakened, Southeast Asian countries' development options could shrink, it said, leaving them with less leverage to negotiate favourable terms with Beijing. "China's relative importance as a development actor in the region will rise as Western development support recedes," it said. Beijing's development finance to the region rose by US$1.6 billion to US$4.9 billion in 2023 -- mostly through big infrastructure projects such as rail links in Indonesia and Malaysia, the report said. At the same time, China's infrastructure commitments to Southeast Asia surged fourfold to almost US$10 billion, largely due to the revival of the Kyaukphyu Deep Sea Port project in Myanmar. By contrast, Western alternative infrastructure projects had failed to materialise in recent years, the study said. "Similarly, Western promises to support the region's clean energy transition have yet to translate into more projects on the ground -- of global concern given coal-dependent Southeast Asia is a major source of rapidly growing carbon emissions." © 2025 AFP
