Venezuela agrees to US repatriation flights after row
Venezuela has agreed with the US to resume repatriation flights for deported Venezuelan nationals, its officials announced on Saturday.
Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela's National Assembly President, confirmed the first flight would depart on Sunday. He said the goal was to "ensure the return of our countrymen with the protection of their human rights."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had suspended the flights on March 8 after US President Donald Trump accused Venezuela of failing to meet its commitments.
In response, Caracas refused to accept further flights. The situation escalated when the US government moved against US energy giant Chevron, suspending its license to export Venezuelan oil.
Caracas and Washington have clashed over the US deporting over 200 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador, with Venezuela slamming the move as "kidnapping."
Washington claims the deportees belong to the Tren de Aragua gang — designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department. Venezuela denies this claim.
In a televised speech, Maduro also addressed Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, telling him "you're responsible."
"You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over," Maduro told Bukele.
Maduro maintained that the migrants hadn't committed crimes in the US or El Salvador.
Families of the deportees protested in Venezuela, accusing the US of tricking the migrants into believing they were returning home after days or weeks in detention.
"They were deceived," Gladys Coromoto Rojas, grandmother of deportee Kenlyn Rodriguez, told news agency AFP at a street protest in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto.
Similarly, the family of Maikel Rojas Olivera said he had informed them that he was coming home to Venezuela on Saturday, only to be shipped to El Salvador.
A federal US judge temporarily blocked further deportations, but some flights had already departed.
More than seven million Venezuelans have left their home country following an economic collapse in the past decade, including opponents of the Maduro government.
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