Latest news with #Venezuelan
Miami Herald
18 minutes 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.
Int'l Business Times
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
US Judges Order Abrego Garcia Release, Block Immediate Deportation
A Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported and then returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges should be released pending trial and not be immediately taken into immigration custody, federal judges said Wednesday. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was summarily deported in March along with more than 200 other people to a prison in El Salvador as part of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants. His case has become a key test of Trump's hardline immigration policies. Most of those sent to El Salvador were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia -- a resident of Maryland who is married to a US citizen -- was wrongly deported due to an "administrative error." Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country. He was returned to the United States in June and immediately arrested on human smuggling charges in the southern state of Tennessee. Abrego Garcia's release pending trial has been repeatedly delayed at the request of his lawyers amid fears he would be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported again. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia's release on bail on Wednesday ahead of his January 27 trial date, and a district judge in Maryland simultaneously blocked ICE from immediately taking him into custody. District Judge Paula Xinis said Abrego Garcia should be brought back to Maryland and ordered the administration to provide at least three days notice before attempting to deport him again. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling. "The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest (Abrego Garcia)... under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE," McLaughlin said on X. It was not immediately clear when Abrego Garcia would be released. Federal prosecutors have opposed his release and warned that he may be deported once again if he is released from custody. Abrego Garcia is charged in Nashville, Tennessee, with smuggling undocumented migrants around the United States between 2016 and 2025. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Star
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Star
Venezuelan makeup artist returns home, describes torture during El Salvador detention
Andry Hernandez, who was held for months in an El Salvador prison after the U.S. alleged he was a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, talks with friends at his home following his release, in Tachira, Venezuela July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez CAPACHO, Venezuela (Reuters) -A makeup artist who became the face of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. to El Salvador's most notorious prison arrived home to his family on Wednesday after what he described as "an encounter with torture and death." Andry Hernandez, 32, and the other detainees returned to Venezuela on Friday as part of a prisoner exchange, after spending four months in El Salvador's CECOT prison, where they and the Venezuelan government allege they were beaten, shot with rubber projectiles, held in dark cells, and served rotten food. "Many of our fellows have wounds from the nightsticks; they have fractured ribs, fractured fingers and toes, marks from the handcuffs, others have marks on their chests, on their face ... from the projectiles," Hernandez told journalists at his home in Capacho, near the Colombian border. U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport the men, who his government accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, without normal immigration procedures. The deportations sparked a legal battle led by civil rights groups. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties. Hernandez, detained at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, had an active asylum case when he was deported to CECOT. His case was widely covered in the media. Advocates in the U.S. have voiced concerns that Hernandez, who is gay, faces risks in Venezuela due to LGBTQ persecution. The U.S. alleged Tren de Aragua membership based on his tattoos: crowns on his wrists that read "mom"and "dad." Hernandez denied the allegation. In a video broadcast on state television on Monday, Hernandez alleged sexual abuse by the guards at CECOT, and Venezuela's attorney general has said his office will investigate El Salvador President Nayib Bukele over alleged abuses. Bukele's office has not responded to requests for comment on the alleged torture. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson has referred allegations of mistreatment to El Salvador's government, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dismissed the allegations of abuse on Tuesday, calling the men "criminal, illegal gang members." Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the abuse allegations. Hernandez's parents, Felipe Hernandez and Alexi Romero, have been anxiously awaiting his return since Tuesday, when he called to say he was on the way from Caracas, some 820 kilometers (510 miles) away. Hernandez said he was most happy to see them and his brother, but was also touched to find out that friends and family held vigils on his behalf and campaigned for his return. "It fills me with so much peace, so much comfort, so much tranquility that I was never alone, from day one. There were many people who worried for me," he said. (Reporting by Tathiana Ortiz in Capacho, additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San FranciscoWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Rod Nickel)
CNN
2 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Attorneys for wrongly deported Venezuelan asylum seeker will seek criminal contempt proceedings after prisoner swap
Lawyers for a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was wrongly deported earlier this year will ask a federal judge in coming days to consider opening criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for 'egregious violations' of her orders. The potential proceedings would open a major new front in the monthslong legal saga surrounding the man, referred to only as 'Cristian' in court filings, who was deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in mid-March under the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping 18th-century wartime authority President Donald Trump invoked to speed up removals of migrants his administration claimed are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Last week, he was sent back to his home country as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela. US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, of the federal court in Baltimore, decided earlier this year that Cristian's deportation violated a court settlement protecting some young migrants with pending asylum claims and ordered officials to 'facilitate' his return to the US so he can have his asylum application resolved. The government did little to carry out her directive and his case largely flew under the radar in recent months. But last week, Cristian was among a group of about 250 Venezuelans who had been imprisoned in El Salvador's CECOT prison that were flown back to their home country in exchange for 10 US nationals. 'He was a pawn in this prisoner exchange deal,' Cristian's lawyer, Kevin DeJong, said during a hearing on Tuesday in the case. 'They were taking active, purposeful steps to deport him to the country in which he actually fears persecution.' The attorney told the judge that 'given the history of violations here, criminal contempt should be on the table.' 'There have been recurring violations and just blatant disregard for the settlement agreement, the court's orders,' DeJong said. 'Someone should be held accountable for these egregious violations.' He said they would file a request for the judge to consider opening criminal contempt proceedings within the next 10 days. Gallagher, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during his first term, said DeJong had 'proffered a basis under which you could seek some sanctions or contempt,' but was careful to note that she wasn't at this time making any early conclusions on the matter. The judge, too, seemed skeptical that her earlier directive had been complied with. Until Tuesday, a court-ordered fact-finding process had been underway to determine what officials had been doing to carry out her order. The judge put that process on hold since Cristian is no longer in El Salvador. But, she said, 'It wouldn't be moot as to whether my orders were complied with or not.' Justice Department attorney Ruth Ann Mueller pushed back strongly during Tuesday's hearing on DeJong's claims that the government hasn't complied with court orders in the case and claimed that officials would remove 'domestic barriers' that would prevent Cristian from returning stateside. 'Should Cristian wish to return, the government is ready and able to facilitate that,' she told the judge. Cristian's case has in some ways mirrored that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He had been living in Maryland until March when the Trump administration moved him to CECOT under a different immigration authority. A separate judge in Maryland ordered officials to 'facilitate' his return, and his attorneys are similarly seeking sanctions against the government for their alleged failure to comply with that judge's rulings. Abrego Garcia was eventually brought back to the US to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- NBC News
U.S. took convicted murderer as part of Venezuela-El Salvador prisoner exchange
The U.S. State Department is not commenting on why a man convicted of murdering three people in Madrid was among the 10 U.S. citizens released by Venezuela last week as part of a prisoner exchange. Dahud Hanid Ortiz, a U.S. veteran who served in Iraq, was convicted in absentia in Spain of killing two Cuban women and an Ecuadorian man in 2016. Ortiz, who is a Venezuelan-born U.S. citizen, fled to the South American country after committing the crime. Venezuela's government rejected Spain's extradition request because its constitution does not allow the extradition of its citizens. Instead, Ortiz was tried in Venezuela. A State Department spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to NBC News that 'the United States had the opportunity to secure the release of all Americans detained in Venezuela, many of whom reported being subjected to torture and other harsh conditions. For privacy reasons, I won't get into the details of any specific case.' The Venezuelan government last week released the 10 Americans, along with Venezuelan political prisoners, in exchange for more than 250 Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration had sent to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador in March. The three-country deal involved the governments of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and President Donald Trump. 'Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement last week. Two photos released by the State Department on Friday show the 10 freed Americans, including Ortiz, holding an American flag. Ortiz was awarded a Purple Heart and was dishonorably discharged after making a false official statement and larceny, among other charges. Ortiz was married to a German woman he met while stationed at the U.S. base in Schweinfurt, according to Spanish newspaper El País. They later separated and she developed a relationship with a lawyer in Madrid. Ortiz is accused of showing up at the law office and kill three of its employees. The lawyer with whom Ortiz's wife was reportedly having a relationship with was not at the office at the time.
