‘You are there and you are not alive': the harsh testimony of a deported Venezuelan who spent 15 days in Guantanamo

CNN

12-03-2025

With his hands and feet handcuffed, tied leg to leg with other detainees, José Daniel Simancas Rodríguez was put on a plane. He says he was told he would go to Miami.
Hours later, when they landed, Simancas and his fellow passengers were transferred to a bus with the windows covered by bags. By then he already suspected where he had arrived: Guantanamo. What he did not imagine was that this was just the beginning of a nightmare that would last 15 days.
Simancas was one of 177 Venezuelans deported by the United States who had been transferred to the US naval base in Cuba, a measure criticized by human rights organizations who say the base is not appropriate for housing migrants.
He says he can attest to these complaints: in the place where they locked him up, there was barely a sheet and pillow, they gave him almost no food and he was completely isolated, Simancas told CNN. The only sound that accompanied him during what he describes as 'hell' were the screams of the other prisoners. The experience was so unbearable that, he says, he even thought about suicide.
Although at some point he had been told that he would be deported, the 30-year-old Venezuelan feared that he would never see his five children again. 'I had already completely given up,' he recalls.
'That's what torture is, confinement. You are not alive. You are there and you are not alive, where you don't know if it is day or night, you don't really know the time, you are eating poorly, every day that you are there you are dying little by little. I cried every day during those 15 days.'
He says that in 15 days, he was allowed to shower only twice and that to do so they took him to the bathroom with handcuffs, carried out thorough security checks on him and kept him under constant surveillance. He felt that he was being treated like a terrorist, he says.
The hunger he suffered during his stay in Guantanamo is what he remembers most, he says. Three plates a day of food that he does not remember fondly and in portions that he believes were very small. 'He licked the plate' as if the food was very tasty, but in reality he did it because he was so hungry.
Reached for comment about these allegations, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency told CNN that it cannot comment because there is pending litigation. Court documents allege that Simancas re-entered the United States illegally after being expelled the first time. Simancas denies this.
More than a month after announcing the transfer of migrants to Guantanamo and the creation of spaces to house some 30,000 deportees, the Trump administration has suspended construction of tents at the base. According to a source with knowledge of the case who spoke to CNN in February, the halt was due to concerns that these structures do not meet detention standards. Although the tents are not being used, there are still migrants in the base's detention center and in the Migrant Operations Center.
Like many immigrants, Simancas says he arrived illegally in the United States in May 2024 through the dangerous Darien jungle. He had previously lived in Ecuador, where he says he stayed until 2022. He then spent time in Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico while continuing his journey north. This entire journey was aimed at finding a better life, he says.
From a very young age, he says he has worked in construction, first as a laborer and then as a construction foreman in Venezuela, Ecuador and Costa Rica. His plan was to do the same on American soil.
However, when he arrived in the United States, he was detained and spent eight days in a federal prison and then in the US Immigration Service Detention Center located in El Paso, Texas, he says, where he remained for nine months awaiting deportation.
During his interview by immigration agents, he said he was born in Maracay, Aragua state – a detail that he believes may have raised alarm bells for US officials. Then they saw that he had tattoos, which he says he has had since he was 16. Officials began asking him questions to determine if he had any ties to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua, considered a terrorist group by the United States.
US authorities have previously claimed that Venezuelan migrants sent to Guantanamo had ties to Tren de Aragua.
'I was the only one they set aside, just for saying I was from Maracay … for them, I was already part of the Tren de Aragua,' said Simancas, who added that they immediately accused him of being a criminal.
The Trump administration had announced that Guantanamo Bay was reserved for transferring 'the worst of the worst,' although several court filings revealed that not all those sent there represent a 'high threat.'
Simancas says that the group of 15 people with whom he was detained had been told that they would be transferred to Miami, but they ended up at the base in Cuba.
His stay in Guantanamo ended on February 20, when the Venezuelans held at the military base were taken to Honduras and then picked up there by a plane from Venezuela's state airline Conviasa, sent by the Venezuelan government.
The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said at the time that it had requested the repatriation of the Venezuelans who were 'unjustly' held in Guantanamo.
'They are not criminals, they are not bad people, they were people who emigrated as a consequence of the sanctions [of the United States] … in Venezuela, we welcome them as a productive force, with a hug of love,' said Maduro.
According to UNHCR, almost 8 million people have left Venezuela since 2014 as a result of the political, economic and social crisis in the South American nation.
Maduro said on Saturday that the decision of the United States to revoke the license for the American oil company Chevron to carry out some operations in the South American country 'affected' the dialogue between both nations, as well as the flights to repatriate Venezuelan migrants.
Already back in his country, Simancas has reunited with his mother and kids, who embraced him, tear-eyed, with hugs and kisses. 'The happiness of seeing my children is great. A great emotion,' he told CNN.
He now says he wants to try to find opportunities doing what he says he has always done, working in construction and leaving behind his hopes of fulfilling the American dream that ended up full of memories he now prefers to forget.
'I have spoken with everyone and they tell me that they do not sleep. If they did all that to prevent one from returning to the country, they succeeded. They wanted to give us a trauma, they succeeded,' said Simancas about his return to Venezuela, adding that in Guantanamo, 'you want to kill yourself every day.'
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 in the US. Click here for help in Latin American countries and Spain. Learn more at cnne.com/ayuda.