Latest news with #NicolásMaduro
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Former U.S. marine freed in Venezuela-U.S. prisoner swap was convicted of triple murder
One of the 10 American citizens or residents freed by the government of Nicolás Maduro in a recent high-profile prisoner exchange with the United States was a fugitive convicted of a triple murder in Spain, according to reports by Venezuelan and Spanish media outlets. Dahud Hanid Ortiz, 54, a former U.S. Marine born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was convicted of killing three people in Madrid in 2016. He was sentenced by a Venezuelan court to 30 years in prison on July 22, according to court documents and statements by the victims' families. Ortiz, who holds U.S. and German citizenship, was among those repatriated to the United States on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap. The deal involved the release of 252 Venezuelan nationals who had been held in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, many of them accused by U.S. officials of allegedly being criminals or part of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Ortiz is currently believed to be in Texas, where he landed after his release. As of press time, the U.S. State Department had not provided information about his legal status, or whether he remains in custody. A former combat veteran, Ortiz served in Iraq and South Korea and was awarded the Purple Heart. However, he was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army after being found guilty of falsifying documents related to his residence and military record. After being discharged from the marines, his personal life unraveled. His relationship with a German doctor, Irina Trippel, crumbled, and when she began a new love life with Peruvian lawyer, Víctor Yoel Salas Cobeñas, the former Marine reacted with obsessive fury. On June 22, 2016, Ortiz executed a meticulous and bloody plan in Madrid, according to court documents. He showed up at the lawyer's office and, mistaking an Ecuadorian client for his romantic rival, murdered him. He then attacked and killed two women who worked in the office: Maritza Osorio Riverón, a secretary, and Elisa Consuegra Gálvez, a lawyer and Salas's partner. Before fleeing, he set fire to the office and left a fake business card with the logo of a supposed Mexican cartel, attempting to mislead the investigation. Following the attack, Ortiz fled Spain. An international arrest warrant was issued, and he was eventually detained in 2018 by Venezuelan authorities during a routine security operation in the state of Bolívar. For years, Ortiz was held in the Caracas headquarters of Venezuela's Military Counterintelligence Directorate, initially under suspicion of espionage. In December 2021, Venezuelan and international media revealed Ortiz's identity and the charges against him. According to media reports, he had been using false identities and speaking multiple languages while detained, including Spanish, English, German and Russian. He was tried and sentenced in Venezuela rather than in Spain for the crimes committed in Madrid because the Venezuelan Constitution prohibits the extradition of Venezuelan-born citizens, but the country's laws allows Venezuelan citizens to be prosecuted for crimes committed abroad. Ortiz was sentenced in January 2024 to 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence provided for in Venezuelan law, on charges of homicide and arson. On June 1 of this year, Ortiz was removed from his cell and taken to a separate location where he recorded video messages addressed to U.S. officials, claiming to be in poor health and without access to food or medicine. Sources familiar with the situation said he was instructed to follow a prepared script. The decision to include Ortiz in the prisoner exchange has drawn criticism from relatives of the victims. Salas, the Madrid-based attorney whose law office was the site of the attack, spoke publicly after receiving confirmation of Ortiz's sentence. 'We all feel deceived, betrayed and defrauded,' Salas said during an interview with the Spanish television program Vamos a Ver. 'Dahud Hanid Ortiz was never a political prisoner. He was a convicted and sentenced murderer. The court documents make that absolutely clear.' Salas also questioned the involvement of former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who reportedly played a mediating role in the negotiation between Venezuela and the United States. He urged all parties involved to take steps to acknowledge and rectify what he described as a miscarriage of justice.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Venezuela's returning migrants allege abuses in El Salvador's 'hell' prison where US sent them
LOBATERA, Venezuela — Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday as the morning fog in western Venezuela lifted. The family's first embrace in more than a year finally convinced him that his nightmare inside a prison in El Salvador was over. Uzcátegui was among the migrants being reunited with loved ones after four months in prison in El Salvador , where the U.S. government transferred them in one of its boldest moves to crack down on immigration. 'Every day, we asked God for the blessing of freeing us from there so that we could be here with family, with my loved ones,' Uzcátegui, 33, said. 'Every day, I woke up looking at the bars, wishing I wasn't there.' 'They beat us, they kicked us. I even have quite a few bruises on my stomach,' he added before later showing a mildly bruised left abdomen. The migrants, some of whom characterized the prison as 'hell,' were freed Friday in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments , but the latter sequestered them upon arrival to their country. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and other officials have said many of the immigrants were physically and psychologically tortured during their detention in El Salvador, airing on state television videos of some of the men describing the alleged abuse, including rape, severe beatings and pellet-gun wounds. The narratives are reminiscent of the abuses that Maduro's government has long been accused of committing against its real or perceived, jailed opponents . As the men reached their homes, they and their relatives shared deeply emotional moments in which sad tears and happy tears rolled down their cheeks at the same time. Uzcátegui's wife, Gabriela Mora, 30, held onto their home's fence and sobbed as she saw the military vehicle carrying him approach after a 30-plus-hour bus ride to their mining community nestled in Venezuela's Andean mountains. She had set up gifts and decorations in their living room, including a star-shaped metallic blue balloon with a 'Happy Father's Day' greeting that his stepdaughter had saved since the June holiday. The 252 men ended in El Salvador on March 16 after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pay $6 million to the Central American nation to house them in a mega-prison , where human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths and cases of torture . Trump accused the men of belonging to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang, which originated in Venezuela. The administration did not provide evidence to back up the accusation. However, several recently deported migrants have said U.S. authorities wrongly judged their tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport them. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Friday said only seven of the men had pending cases in Venezuela, adding that all the deportees would undergo medical tests and background checks before they could go home. Arturo Suárez, whose reggaeton songs surfaced on social media after he was sent to El Salvador, arrived at his family's working-class home in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday. His sister hugged him after he exited a vehicle of Venezuela's intelligence service. 'It is hell. We met a lot of innocent people,' Suárez told reporters, referring to the prison he was held in. 'To all those who mistreated us, to all those who negotiated with our lives and our freedom, I have one thing to say, and scripture says it well: Vengeance and justice is mine, and you are going to give an account to God Father.' The Associated Press could not verify the abuse allegations that Suárez and other migrants narrated in the videos aired by state media. Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Monday said he had opened an investigation against El Salvador President Nayib Bukele based on the deportees' allegations. Bukele's office did not respond to requests for comment. The men left El Salvador as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S. , which received 10 citizens and permanent residents whom Maduro's government had jailed over accusations of plotting to destabilize Venezuela. Mora said her husband migrated after the coal mine he had long worked at halved his pay and their street food shop went out of business in 2023. Uzcátegui left Lobatera in March 2024 with an acquaintance's promise to help him find a construction job in Orlando. On his way north, Uzcátegui crossed the punishing Darien Gap that separates Colombia and Panama, and by mid-April he had reached Mexico City. There, he worked at a public market's seafood stall until early December, when he was finally granted an appointment through a U.S. government smartphone app to seek asylum at a border crossing. But Uzcátegui never walked free in the U.S., where authorities regarded his tattoos with suspicion, said Mara. He was sent to a detention center in Texas until he and other Venezuelans were put on the airplanes that landed in El Salvador . Still, she said she does not regret supporting her husband's decision to migrate. 'It's the country's situation that forces one to make these decisions,' she said. 'If (economic) conditions here were favorable..., it wouldn't have been necessary for him to leave to be able to fix the house or to provide my daughter with a better education.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Venezuela's returning migrants allege abuses in El Salvador's 'hell' prison where US sent them
Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday as the morning fog in western Venezuela lifted. The family's first embrace in more than a year finally convinced him that his nightmare inside a prison in El Salvador was over. Uzcátegui was among the migrants being reunited with loved ones after four months in prison in El Salvador, where the U.S. government transferred them in one of its boldest moves to crack down on immigration. 'Every day, we asked God for the blessing of freeing us from there so that we could be here with family, with my loved ones,' Uzcátegui, 33, said. 'Every day, I woke up looking at the bars, wishing I wasn't there." "They beat us, they kicked us. I even have quite a few bruises on my stomach,' he added before later showing a mildly bruised left abdomen. The migrants, some of whom characterized the prison as 'hell,' were freed Friday in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments, but the latter sequestered them upon arrival to their country. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and other officials have said many of the immigrants were physically and psychologically tortured during their detention in El Salvador, airing on state television videos of some of the men describing the alleged abuse, including rape, severe beatings and pellet-gun wounds. The narratives are reminiscent of the abuses that Maduro's government has long been accused of committing against its real or perceived, jailed opponents. As the men reached their homes, they and their relatives shared deeply emotional moments in which sad tears and happy tears rolled down their cheeks at the same time. Uzcátegui's wife, Gabriela Mora, 30, held onto their home's fence and sobbed as she saw the military vehicle carrying him approach after a 30-plus-hour bus ride to their mining community nestled in Venezuela's Andean mountains. She had set up gifts and decorations in their living room, including a star-shaped metallic blue balloon with a 'Happy Father's Day' greeting that his stepdaughter had saved since the June holiday. 'We met a lot of innocent people' The 252 men ended in El Salvador on March 16 after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pay $6 million to the Central American nation to house them in a mega-prison, where human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths and cases of torture. Trump accused the men of belonging to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang, which originated in Venezuela. The administration did not provide evidence to back up the accusation. However, several recently deported migrants have said U.S. authorities wrongly judged their tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport them. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Friday said only seven of the men had pending cases in Venezuela, adding that all the deportees would undergo medical tests and background checks before they could go home. Arturo Suárez, whose reggaeton songs surfaced on social media after he was sent to El Salvador, arrived at his family's working-class home in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday. His sister hugged him after he exited a vehicle of Venezuela's intelligence service. 'It is hell. We met a lot of innocent people,' Suárez told reporters, referring to the prison he was held in. "To all those who mistreated us, to all those who negotiated with our lives and our freedom, I have one thing to say, and scripture says it well: Vengeance and justice is mine, and you are going to give an account to God Father.' The Associated Press could not verify the abuse allegations that Suárez and other migrants narrated in the videos aired by state media. Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Monday said he had opened an investigation against El Salvador President Nayib Bukele based on the deportees' allegations. Bukele's office did not respond to requests for comment. Appointment to seek asylum The men left El Salvador as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S., which received 10 citizens and permanent residents whom Maduro's government had jailed over accusations of plotting to destabilize Venezuela. Mora said her husband migrated after the coal mine he had long worked at halved his pay and their street food shop went out of business in 2023. Uzcátegui left Lobatera in March 2024 with an acquaintance's promise to help him find a construction job in Orlando. On his way north, Uzcátegui crossed the punishing Darien Gap that separates Colombia and Panama, and by mid-April he had reached Mexico City. There, he worked at a public market's seafood stall until early December, when he was finally granted an appointment through a U.S. government smartphone app to seek asylum at a border crossing. But Uzcátegui never walked free in the U.S., where authorities regarded his tattoos with suspicion, said Mara. He was sent to a detention center in Texas until he and other Venezuelans were put on the airplanes that landed in El Salvador. Still, she said she does not regret supporting her husband's decision to migrate. 'It's the country's situation that forces one to make these decisions,' she said. 'If (economic) conditions here were favorable..., it wouldn't have been necessary for him to leave to be able to fix the house or to provide my daughter with a better education.'
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Venezuela's returning migrants allege abuses in El Salvador's 'hell' prison where US sent them
LOBATERA, Venezuela (AP) — Carlos Uzcátegui tightly hugged his sobbing wife and stepdaughter on Wednesday as the morning fog in western Venezuela lifted. The family's first embrace in more than a year finally convinced him that his nightmare inside a prison in El Salvador was over. Uzcátegui was among the migrants being reunited with loved ones after four months in prison in El Salvador, where the U.S. government transferred them in one of its boldest moves to crack down on immigration. 'Every day, we asked God for the blessing of freeing us from there so that we could be here with family, with my loved ones,' Uzcátegui, 33, said. 'Every day, I woke up looking at the bars, wishing I wasn't there.' 'They beat us, they kicked us. I even have quite a few bruises on my stomach,' he added before later showing a mildly bruised left abdomen. The migrants, some of whom characterized the prison as 'hell,' were freed Friday in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments, but the latter sequestered them upon arrival to their country. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and other officials have said many of the immigrants were physically and psychologically tortured during their detention in El Salvador, airing on state television videos of some of the men describing the alleged abuse, including rape, severe beatings and pellet-gun wounds. The narratives are reminiscent of the abuses that Maduro's government has long been accused of committing against its real or perceived, jailed opponents. As the men reached their homes, they and their relatives shared deeply emotional moments in which sad tears and happy tears rolled down their cheeks at the same time. Uzcátegui's wife, Gabriela Mora, 30, held onto their home's fence and sobbed as she saw the military vehicle carrying him approach after a 30-plus-hour bus ride to their mining community nestled in Venezuela's Andean mountains. She had set up gifts and decorations in their living room, including a star-shaped metallic blue balloon with a 'Happy Father's Day' greeting that his stepdaughter had saved since the June holiday. 'We met a lot of innocent people' The 252 men ended in El Salvador on March 16 after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pay $6 million to the Central American nation to house them in a mega-prison, where human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths and cases of torture. Trump accused the men of belonging to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang, which originated in Venezuela. The administration did not provide evidence to back up the accusation. However, several recently deported migrants have said U.S. authorities wrongly judged their tattoos and used them as an excuse to deport them. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Friday said only seven of the men had pending cases in Venezuela, adding that all the deportees would undergo medical tests and background checks before they could go home. Arturo Suárez, whose reggaeton songs surfaced on social media after he was sent to El Salvador, arrived at his family's working-class home in the capital, Caracas, on Tuesday. His sister hugged him after he exited a vehicle of Venezuela's intelligence service. 'It is hell. We met a lot of innocent people,' Suárez told reporters, referring to the prison he was held in. 'To all those who mistreated us, to all those who negotiated with our lives and our freedom, I have one thing to say, and scripture says it well: Vengeance and justice is mine, and you are going to give an account to God Father.' The Associated Press could not verify the abuse allegations that Suárez and other migrants narrated in the videos aired by state media. Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Monday said he had opened an investigation against El Salvador President Nayib Bukele based on the deportees' allegations. Bukele's office did not respond to requests for comment. Appointment to seek asylum The men left El Salvador as part of a prisoner exchange with the U.S., which received 10 citizens and permanent residents whom Maduro's government had jailed over accusations of plotting to destabilize Venezuela. Mora said her husband migrated after the coal mine he had long worked at halved his pay and their street food shop went out of business in 2023. Uzcátegui left Lobatera in March 2024 with an acquaintance's promise to help him find a construction job in Orlando. On his way north, Uzcátegui crossed the punishing Darien Gap that separates Colombia and Panama, and by mid-April he had reached Mexico City. There, he worked at a public market's seafood stall until early December, when he was finally granted an appointment through a U.S. government smartphone app to seek asylum at a border crossing. But Uzcátegui never walked free in the U.S., where authorities regarded his tattoos with suspicion, said Mara. He was sent to a detention center in Texas until he and other Venezuelans were put on the airplanes that landed in El Salvador. Still, she said she does not regret supporting her husband's decision to migrate. 'It's the country's situation that forces one to make these decisions,' she said. 'If (economic) conditions here were favorable..., it wouldn't have been necessary for him to leave to be able to fix the house or to provide my daughter with a better education.'
Newsweek
6 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
What We Know About Americans Freed in Venezuela Prisoner Swap
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A group of 10 Americans freed in a hostage exchange with Venezuela included a U.S. Navy sailor and a water sports fan, reports say. When contacted for comment, the U.S. State Department told Newsweek on Saturday that for privacy reasons, the individuals would not be identified nor their cases disclosed. However, a statement to Newsweek by the Foley Foundation, which advocates for captives held overseas, named four of the U.S. nationals who had been held for months in the South American country. Hostage Aid Worldwide named another two U.S. nationals. The group was exchanged for more than 250 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. and flown in March to El Salvador's high-security prison. A detained Venezuelan being assisted off the plane upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport during a prisoner exchange between Venezuela and the U.S. on July 18. A detained Venezuelan being assisted off the plane upon arrival at Simon Bolivar International Airport during a prisoner exchange between Venezuela and the U.S. on July It Matters The complicated deal involving three countries gives Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a diplomatic coup, helps U.S. President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and offers a political boost to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who proposed the exchange. What To Know On Friday, Venezuela released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador in March under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the Americans were being repatriated. The Foley Foundation named four American citizens: Wilbert Castaneda, who had been in custody for 325 days; Jorge Marcelo Vargas, in prison for 304 days; Renzo Castillo, in prison for 299 days; and Lucas Hunter, in prison for 192 days. Hostage Aid Worldwide named another two American nationals: Jonathan Pagan González, who was arrested in October, and Fabian Buglione Reyes, a Uruguayan national living in the U.S. who was arrested at a checkpoint in October. Diane Foley, the founder and president of the Foley Foundation, said in a statement to Newsweek that she applauded "the unprecedented pace set by the Trump administration in securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained around the world." Castaneda, a former Navy SEAL, had been detained in Venezuela while on personal travel and was later accused of leading a CIA-linked plot, CBS News reported. In a statement, his family said he had been "used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime," the outlet reported. Hunter was on a windsurfing and motorcycling trip through Paraguachón, Colombia, near the border with Venezuela, when Venezuelan guards coerced him into crossing and arrested him in January, his family wrote on a website created for him. Sophie Hunter, his sister, said in a statement via the group Global Reach, "My family and I are so happy to hear that my brother, Lucas, was released by Venezuela today." A detained Venezuelan arriving at Simon Bolivar International Airport as part of a prisoner swap between Venezuela and the United States on July 18. A detained Venezuelan arriving at Simon Bolivar International Airport as part of a prisoner swap between Venezuela and the United States on July to the exchange were the 250 Venezuelan migrants freed by El Salvador, which had housed them in its notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, after the Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act to deport them. The Trump administration accused them of belonging to the Tren de Aragua street gang in a case condemned by rights groups. The deportation resulted in a legal fight that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. State Department released an image of the 10 U.S. nationals and said in a statement on Saturday that the president had made it a priority to bring home Americans being held hostage or wrongfully detained. "We also welcome the release of Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees from Venezuelan prisons," the statement continued. It added, "The United States continues to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela and call for the release of all remaining political prisoners." What People Are Saying The U.S. State Department said in a statement: "President Trump has made it a priority to bring home Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained, and the State Department will continue to work to ensure every American held unjustly abroad is released and returned home." Diane Foley, the founder and president of the Foley Foundation, said in a statement: "We applaud the unprecedented pace set by the Trump administration in securing the release of Americans wrongfully detained around the world. Today's release of 10 U.S. nationals held captive by the Maduro regime extends that record of success." What Happens Next The U.S. secretary of state has said every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and "back in our homeland." However, the fate of the Venezuelans returning home is unclear. Maduro can use the deal to reaffirm support among his base as he asserts himself as president despite evidence that he lost reelection last year and the U.S. and other nations viewing him as an illegitimate leader.
