Venezuelan migrants being treated as terrorists by Salvadoran security agents. Photo: El Salvador President Press Office.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has confirmed the Venezuelan government’s condemnations that migrants deported by the US empire to El Salvador have been subjected to systematic torture and abuse.
The report, titled “They Arrived in Hell: Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT),” published this Wednesday, November 12, states that these were not incidents in isolation, but systematic human rights violations. Prepared alongside the NGO Cristosal, the report also warns that the migrants have suffered “forced disappearances and other serious human rights violations,” thus confirming the condemnations made by Venezuelan authorities.
Systematic abuse and US complicity
Between March and April, an estimated 252 Venezuelans were forcibly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador. They were accused of being members of the fictional Tren de Aragua criminal gang—without US authorities providing evidence for their claims—following an agreement between US ruler Donald Trump and his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele.
Human Rights Watch denuncia torturas a migrantes venezolanos en megacárcel de El Salvador
Los migrantes venezolanos enviados por la Administración de Donald Trump al Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) del presidente Nayib Bukele en El Salvador denuncian haber sufrido… pic.twitter.com/7mHuEV1Su3
— DW Español (@dw_espanol) November 12, 2025
The document states the migrants were transferred to the CECOT prison despite evidence of serious human rights violations committed in that prison. HRW accused the US regime of being “complicit in torture, forced disappearance, and other abuses” and demanded US authorities “end deportations to El Salvador and any other country where people are at risk of being tortured.”
“The Trump government paid El Salvador millions of dollars to arbitrarily detain Venezuelans, who were then subjected almost daily to brutal beatings by Salvadoran security forces,” said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Division of HRW. “It is complicit in these abuses and should stop sending people to El Salvador or any other country where they risk being tortured.”
According to information obtained by the NGO, the US empire recently provided at least $4.7 million to San Salvador to cover, among other things, the costs of detaining these defenseless migrants.
Victim testimonies of torture
HRW and Cristosal researchers interviewed 40 of the Venezuelans detained at CECOT and another 150 people, including family members and lawyers. The report notes that approximately half of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT had no criminal convictions whatsoever, and only 3% had been convicted in the US for a violent crime.
“The nightmare began as soon as I was taken off the plane,” said Gonzalo, a 26-year-old from Zulia state, who stated a guard struck him on the back of the neck with a stick as he disembarked.
“They would take us all out of the cell,” said another prisoner, Tirso Z, “put us in a search position, kneeling, handcuffed behind our backs with our arms above our heads, and beat us with batons, kicks, and punches, and then leave us kneeling for 30 or 40 minutes.”
Another Venezuelan, JosĂ© Mora, stated, “the guards tortured us physically and psychologically,” and added, “when we protested, they shot us point-blank with rubber bullets, right inside the cell … we were like chickens or rats locked up… and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
The title of the report, “They Arrived in Hell,” directly references victim testimonies that Salvadoran security forces told them they had “arrived in hell” upon their delivery to the infamous CECOT prison.
Venezuela’s diplomatic efforts
On July 19, almost three months after their arrival to CECOT, the 252 Venezuelan migrants arrived safely back home following a complex but successful negotiation between Venezuela and the US empire.
Earlier that day, the Venezuelan government announced the release via a statement, which followed a negotiation involving the handover of ten US nationals prosecuted in Venezuela for crimes against national security, as well as some far-right Venezuelan politicians sentenced under criminal charges.
“Venezuela has paid a high price to secure the freedom of these nationals through an exchange with US authorities,” the Venezuelan statement emphasized, “of a group of US citizens who were facing justice for their proven involvement in serious crimes against the peace, sovereignty, and security of the nation.”
Negotiations were a complex diplomatic process that began in April with talks between the governments of President Maduro and Trump. The process featured key mediation by former Spanish President JosĂ© Luis RodrĂguez Zapatero, as well as, according to some sources, by the Vatican and figures from the US Democratic Party.
Surviving CECOT: The Venezuelan Mothers Who Rescued Their Children from Bukele’s Prisons
President Maduro played a central role in negotiating directly with the US, avoiding any dialogue with Nayib Bukele, whom the leader of the Venezuelan negotiating team, Jorge RodrĂguez, dismissed as a mere executor of orders from the US empire.
Venezuelan investigation
After the migrants’ arrival, the Venezuelan government made the same condemnation regarding their treatment in El Salvador, and reported that all the repatriated deportees were being systematically interviewed by Public Ministry officials to substantiate a comprehensive report.
That report has not yet been made public by Venezuelan authorities; however, the main crimes denounced in the HRW report had already been made by Venezuela on numerous occasions.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
