Venezuelan representatives hold a press conference outside the General Directorate of Penal Centers of El Salvador, June 13, 2025. Photo: AFP.
The relatives of the Venezuelans deported by the United States to were not allowed by the Salvadoran authorities to see them or to have any contact with them after three months of being held in a high-security prison to which they were deported from El Salvador.
Two relatives of the imprisoned migrants and two human rights activists were in San Salvador three days, the first trip to the capital of El Salvador by relatives of the 252 Venezuelans who are illegally imprisoned since March 15, having been accused by the Trump administration, without evidence, of being members of the defunct criminal gang Tren de Aragua.
“I came with a lot of hope, I promised my sister and many mothers that soon their children would be free. I do not want them to lose faith. We were so close, but at the same time so far away,” said Jhoanna Sanguino, aunt of Widmer Agelvis Sanguino, a 24-year-old deportee, shortly before leaving El Salvador on Friday, June 13.
Jhoanna Sanguino and Reina Cárdenas, friend of Andry Hernández Romero, a 32-year-old stylist who was deported from the US, and activists of the El Amparo Venezuela Foundation, represent a dozen migrants from the Venezuelan state of Táchira who are now incarcerated in El Salvador.
They with to the Directorate of Penal Centers of El Salvador, with request to be allowed to enter the Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security prison in Tecoluca, 75 km from San Salvador.
The Venezuelan migrants are being held there without any judicial process and without having committed any crime in El Salvador, said Walter Márquez, president of the foundation.
Trump has agreed to pay the Bukele government $6 million to keep them in prison, a transaction that has been criticized by Western human rights organization such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
No response from Salvadoran authorities
A group of relatives and legal representatives of Venezuelan citizens held in the CECOT submitted a formal request to the General Directorate of Penal Centers of El Salvador in order to obtain authorization to visit them and know their physical and psychological state.
In addition to the request submitted to the general director of prisons, Osiris Luna Meza, the representatives of the detainees visited the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office to request oversight of the conditions in which the inmates are being held. To date, they have not received any response from any of the authorities.
Family Members of Venezuelan Migrants Illegally Incarcerated in El Salvador Demand Prison Visits
Relatives demand review of the cases
Relatives of the detainees Carlos Alexis Uzcátegui Vielma, Edison David Quintero Chacón, Wilmer José Vega Sandia emphasize that they have no criminal records.
According to Reina Cárdenas and Johanna Sanguino, their priority during this visit was to see their loved ones before returning to Venezuela, as they have not received any information about their condition since they were detained.
Family members and lawyers await an official response on their request for a visit and evaluation of the conditions of detention.
Request to Pope Leo XVI to intervene for the migrants
Sanguino and Cárdenas, members of the Movement for Deported Tachirans, together with Walter Márquez and Ana Hernández of the El Amparo Venezuela Foundation, presented a letter to the Apostolic Nunciature of El Salvador, requesting Pope Leo XIV to intercede for the Venezuelans deported from the United States to the CECOT.
On Friday, they also went to the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office to present in writing the verbal request they made on Tuesday, June 12, asking for information about the state of health of the Venezuelans detained in the mega-prison.
They also presented an expansion of the cases presented to the General Directorate of Penal Centers (DGCP), from six cases to 10, and requested that the families in Venezuela be allowed phone calls so that they can speak with their relatives detained in El Salvador.
These families and legal representatives arrived in El Salvador last Monday, June 9, and returned to Venezuela on Friday. They hope to make a second visit and achieve some favorable results for the migrants and their families.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
