Venezuelan march in support of migrants in the US unjustly detained and sent to a Salvadoran prison on allegations of ties to gangs, Caracas, March 18, 2025. Photo: El Correo del Orinoco.
“If I have to go to El Salvador to look for my son, I will do it; if I have to chain myself to that prison, I will do it, because I am ready to do anything for my child. I never imagined being in this situation in which I am at this moment,” said Jepzy Arteaga, mother of Carlos Alejandro Cañizales Arteaga, one of the 238 Venezuelan migrants detained by the Trump administration in the United States and then, on March 16, illegally transferred to the Confinement Center for Terrorism (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Human rights violations are common at the facility, according to various legal and social organizations.
In Caracas’ Plaza Bolívar, where a signature collection campaign against US policy toward Venezuelan migrants was held Wednesday, March 19, Jepzy Arteaga told Diario VEA that her 25-year-old son, Carlos Alejandro, is unjustly imprisoned in El Salvador. He is not a criminal and does not belong to any criminal organization. The young man, a resident of Valencia in Carabobo state, left for the US six months ago seeking better economic opportunities to support his family but instead faced suffering and injustice.
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She explained that before being sent to El Salvador, he was imprisoned in the US since February 17. He had been arrested in North Carolina as an “undocumented immigrant.”
Carlos’ wife and his sister remain in the US; they are terrified and want to return home.
How she found out that Carlos was sent to El Salvador
“Because everything added up,” she said. “On Saturday [March 15] he called me, saying, ‘Wait for me, I will be with you people today.’ I, happy, arranged a welcome for him for Saturday, because he was supposed to be here by the evening. He did not arrive on Saturday; I thought something must have delayed him, he will be here on Sunday. On Sunday, his wife called me and asked, ‘Did you check social media?’ My daughter also called me and asked me, ‘Did you see what is happening?’ I said no, and they told me that all those who had been transferred for deportation were sent to El Salvador. I did not want to believe them.
Holding a placard with a picture of Carlos, she continued, choking, that after hearing the news she “started to investigate. I wanted to pay for a lawyer. I asked them to look for a lawyer in Texas.”
On Monday, March 17, her daughter called her again and explained, “We cannot have any lawyer here, because Carlos is already in prison in El Salvador.”
How his wife and sister came to know
“I asked her the same thing: ‘Daughter, how can you be sure?’ And she responded, ‘I am going to send you the video,'” Arteaga said. “And when I saw the video, when they were shaving my son’s head with that machine, he was a bit unrecognizable, but we were able to identify him. My daughter told me, ‘That is Carlos Alejandro.'”
“From that moment we do not feel alive,” she continued. “God gave me the strength to come here today and to keep fighting.”
“What worries me the most is what they are living in El Salvador,” she added, referring to all the Venezuelan migrants illegally imprisoned in that country. “Everybody has seen that prison, how dangerous it is. They are not used to living like that, because they are not criminals.”
Arteaga called upon the Salvadoran authorities to investigate. “Those who have criminal records, they can pay for their crimes, but those who are innocent, please bring them back home,” she urged. “Here all the mothers are desperate, and we will keep fighting.”
“I never imagined being in such a march, I never imagined going through this, but only God knows why he does these things,” she lamented.
She also prayed for strength to tolerate the pain that she is suffering. She prayed for the Salvadoran authorities to come to their senses, to carry out investigations, and “to return our children to us.”
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No contact
Jepzy Arteaga still has no information about her son. “We cannot contact him. I looked up on the internet, in that prison you are not even allowed to call anyone,” she said.
She added that while her son was detained in the US, she at least received information as to his situation. “The only thing that he was allowed there was to call me when he could,” she explained. “He could not call everyday, but he could most days… He was not provided proper food, but at least I had information of him. I was content with hearing his voice every time he could call me.”
Are her daughter and daughter-in-law engaged in procedures to return?
“See, that is not easy either, because they do not have the economic means to return on their own now,” she responded. “And the way these deportations are going, I am afraid if they could return. What if they too are deceived, what if they are told that they were being taken to Venezuela and then they are not sent here? I would prefer things to calm down a bit. They have already decided to return, they are only going to work out how to return.”
Her message to Venezuelans thinking of migrating
“Please do not do that, please don’t imagine a life that doesn’t exist,” she urged. “As my grandmother used to say, we tried to make a joke and ended up with a scowl. Money does not bring you happiness.”
Her message to Nayib Bukele and Donald Trump
“They should put their hands on their heart, they should realize that one day God will take it into his hand, that this will not remain as it is,” she said. “I know that it is not just my child but many other people. Sometimes they think themselves God because they have a position, they have power.”
Her message to the far right that is celebrating how Venezuelans are being treated
“They too have children, and I am sure that they have family members who are in the same situation,” she remarked.
Does she believe the Venezuelan authorities will be able to bring back the abducted Venezuelans?
“At first I doubted it,” she admitted. “But after I was here yesterday, and now that I am here, I am certain that God will give them the wisdom to bring our children home.”
(DiarioVEA) by Yuleidys Hernández Toledo
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
