Latest news with #DiosdadoCabello
Telegraph
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump frees US marine who murdered three in Venezuela prison swap
Donald Trump has freed a convicted triple-murderer as part of a high-profile prisoner swap with Venezuela. Dahud Hanid Ortiz, 54, a former US marine who killed three people in Madrid in 2016, was one of 10 Americans released last Friday. Ortiz, a dual Venezuelan-American citizen, had been tried, convicted and sentenced to 30 years in Venezuela last year. Now, he is free and living in Orlando, Florida, sources told The New York Times. Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's justice minister, confirmed that US officials were told of his crimes and conviction, but still wanted him released. Hailing the success of the exchange, Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, said on Friday that the US 'welcomes home' 10 Americans. 'Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.' Ortiz was reportedly not classified as 'wrongfully detained'. A photo released by the State Department showed Ortiz, who served 19 years in the army and was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in Iraq, smiling on the plane and waving an American flag. In 2023, Biden administration officials who knew of his detention in Venezuela decided not to accept him as part of a different prisoner swap, The New York Times reported. In exchange for the release of 10 Americans, the Trump administration allowed the release of 252 Venezuelan men, previously detained in the US, that it had sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Mr Trump had invoked the wartime power, the Alien Enemies Act to expel them in March of this year, claiming they were part of the Tren de Aragua gang that was invading the US at the behest of the Venezuelan government. Hundreds of Venezuelan men were quickly expelled to El Salvador's notorious Cecot prison, despite the Trump administration providing little evidence that those detained were criminals. Triple murder in Madrid In a highly-publicised case that shocked Spain in 2016, Ortiz had driven from Germany to Madrid to track down Victor Salas, a lawyer who he believed was having an affair with his wife. He entered his office and stabbed to death two female employees as he waited for Mr Salas. Ortiz then killed a taxi driver, a client of the firm, who he mistook for the lawyer. According to Spanish media reports, Ortiz used a combat knife and an iron bar to stab and beat the victims, before setting the lawyer's office on fire. After the brutal murders, he wrote an email to his sister-in-law admitting that he did 'terrible things' and that 'no one will ever forgive me for what happened.' Mr Salas, who had slept in, arrived shortly after and discovered the three bodies. Ortiz then fled to Germany and onto Venezuela and Spanish authorities launched an international manhunt. He was later caught in 2018, but Venezuela refused an extradition request by Spain. In January 2024, he was sentenced by a Venezuelan court to 30 years in prison for the triple murder. After hearing of Ortiz's release, Mr Salas said he now fears for his life. 'We all feel like we've been deceived, betrayed and let down,' he said on Spanish TV programme Vamos a Ver. 'We feel deceived because Dahud Hanid Ortiz was never a political prisoner; he was a murderer who was convicted and sentenced by the Venezuelan authorities. The case record makes it quite clear that he's a criminal.' Calling on Mr Rubio, he added: 'If this was an omission, please make it not only endangers me, but all Americans.'
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venezuela receives 7 kids left behind in US after parents deported
Venezuela on Friday received seven children who had been left behind in the United States after their parents were deported by the Donald Trump administration. Seven boys and girls have been "rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected," Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said at Maiquetia International Airport that serves Caracas. Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores received the flight from Houston that also brought back 244 Venezuelans. Hundreds of people protested in Caracas last week demanding the return of at least 30 children the government says remained in the United States after their Venezuelan parents were expelled. Last month, parliamentary president Jorge Rodriguez said the children were "separated from their mothers, their fathers, their family, their grandparents" and "taken to institutions where they don't belong." Cabello said Friday the government was working hard "to bring the children back." He did not say when the seven were separated from their parents. Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people, including many children, have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico. mbj/ksb/sla/mlr/acb Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Seven Venezuelan migrant children sent home from U.S.: minister
CARACAS (Reuters) -Seven Venezuelan migrant children who had been separated from their families and kept in U.S. care have been sent home, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores said on Friday. Speaking from Maiquetia airport near Caracas after the arrival of a plane carrying hundreds of migrants deported from Texas, Cabello said the children had been "rescued". Cabello said earlier that there were 32 migrant children in the U.S. who have been separated from their families. Solve the daily Crossword
France 24
18-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Venezuela receives 7 kids left behind in US after parents deported
Seven boys and girls have been "rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected," Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said at Maiquetia International Airport that serves Caracas. Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores received the flight from Houston that also brought back 244 Venezuelans. Hundreds of people protested in Caracas last week demanding the return of at least 30 children the government says remained in the United States after their Venezuelan parents were expelled. Last month, parliamentary president Jorge Rodriguez said the children were "separated from their mothers, their fathers, their family, their grandparents" and "taken to institutions where they don't belong." Cabello said Friday the government was working hard "to bring the children back." He did not say when the seven were separated from their parents. Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people, including many children, have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico.
Reuters
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
El Salvador to send detained Venezuelans home in swap for Americans, sources say
WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - El Salvador's government will send detained Venezuelans home in exchange for Americans held in Venezuela, two U.S. government officials told Reuters on Friday, as Venezuela announced the return of seven migrant children who had been separated from their families. One of the officials said El Salvador would send 238 Venezuelans held in its maximum security CECOT prison to Caracas and that the Venezuelan government would release five U.S. citizens and five U.S. permanent residents to American custody. The second official confirmed the exchange was taking place and said the figures appeared to be close to what was expected. Some family members of migrants held at CECOT said they received calls from the Venezuelan government to come to Caracas. Venezuela's Communications Ministry and El Salvador's presidency did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the possible exchange. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores said seven migrant children who had been separated from their families and kept in U.S. care had been sent home on a deportation flight that brought more than 200 migrants from Texas to Maiquetia airport near Caracas. Cabello said the children had been "rescued" and cheered their return, after saying earlier there were 32 migrant children in the U.S. who had been separated from their families. There would be "more movement" later in the afternoon and other arrivals, Cabello added, without providing more details. The U.S. State Department declined to comment. The White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador in March after President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without going through normal immigration procedures. Family members of many of the Venezuelans and their lawyers deny they had gang ties, and say they were not given a chance to contest the Trump administration's allegations in court. Venezuela's government has always decried the CECOT detention of its citizens as a violation of human rights and international law. But the government's critics say the country holds activists and opposition figures in similar conditions in Venezuela. The return of Americans held in Venezuela is a priority, Richard Grenell, a Trump envoy, has said. Grenell visited Caracas in January, returning with six Americans who had been held in Venezuela, and in May flew back to the U.S. from the Caribbean island of Antigua with Joseph St. Clair, who had also been detained in Venezuela.
