A Venezuelan soldier looks on as a US Eastern Airlines plane carrying Venezuelan migrants repatriated from the United States arrives at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, April 11, 2025. Photo: Juan Barreto/AFP.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuela’s Interior Ministry reported the repatriation of 35 Venezuelan migrants rescued from the Guantánamo prison of the US naval base located in the illegally occupied Cuban territory.
In a statement issued on Saturday, April 12, Venezuelan authorities announced that after comprehensive background checks, the possibility of any association of the repatriates with the defunct Tren de Aragua (TdA) criminal gang has been ruled out.
These 35 individuals were among the 191 individuals—16 women and 175 men—who were being held in “illegal preventive detention centers” in the US and who arrived in Venezuela on Friday aboard a US plane.
Out of these 191 repatriated migrants, there are “international arrest warrants against two citizens” due to “a request made through Interpol Colombia,” the ministry added, without providing further details about these two individuals.
A total of 2,557 Venezuelans have returned to the country since February aboard 13 flights, 10 of them operated by the Venezuelan state-owned airline Conviasa, while the remaining three flights were operated by US airlines. The Venezuelan state airline is directly subject to illegal US sanctions.
On Friday, during the reception of the latest repatriation flight, Venezuelan Transport Minister Ramón Velásquez Araguayan highlighted the procedures that the repatriates undergo upon arrival in the country, where they receive comprehensive health check-up, documentation, and thorough criminal background checks. Those without legal or criminal pending records are immediately returned home.
Venezuela’s Transport Minister: 2,557 Migrants Repatriated From US Since February
Below is the unofficial translation of the statement issued by the Interior Ministry:
The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs the people that, thanks to the Return to the Homeland program, led by Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, 16 women and 175 men returned from illegal preventive detention centers in the United States of America on April 11, 2025.
It is worth highlighting the rescue of 35 compatriots who were being held in the inhumane torture center at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, illegally administered by the imperial government of the United States.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, through its various citizen security agencies, confirms that no member of the defunct Tren de Aragua gang has been identified on this flight, once again shattering the media war that the US has sought to wage worldwide against the nation and its citizens.
President Nicolás Maduro Moros, along with his government and his people, will not rest until the last Venezuelan man and woman return to their homeland with their families.
We will prevail!
Caracas, April 11, 2025
Sectoral Vice Presidency for Policy, Citizen Security and Peace and Ministry of People’s Power for Internal Affairs, Justice and Peace.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SC
