The Espinoza family with their baby girl, who was later kidnapped by the US government. Photo: Telesur.
Telesur journalist Madelein García reported the case of Yorely Bernal, a young Venezuelan woman who returned to the country through the Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland) program after attempting to migrate with her husband and daughter to the United States. She recounted how her one-year-old baby was taken away from them and sent to foster families, while her husband remains detained and was sent to the Anti-Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador.
“This is exactly the moment when Yorely, who arrived via the last Vuelta a la Patria program, informed her mother that the United States stole her baby,” explained journalist García this Friday, April 25, on social media. García showed the video in which Yorely, arriving in Venezuela, communicated with her mother through a video call and told her, amidst deep tears, that she could not bring her baby.
“Yorely arrived in the United States with her husband, Maiker, and their 1-year-old baby. They turned themselves in to immigration, and she was detained for a year. She never set foot in the country. The baby was taken from her and placed with a foster family. The baby was removed from the first foster home due to allegations of sexual abuse of the children. The baby was placed with a second foster home and then transferred to a third foster family, but she was never returned,” the journalist explained. She has no contact with the last foster home.
“They treated me very badly, Mommy. They didn’t tell me anything about the baby,” Yorely explained to her mother, deeply distressed. She said she didn’t want to board the plane to return to Venezuela, but that she wanted to stay in the United States until the baby was returned to her, yet they forced her to board.
The case was first reported the morning of this Friday by Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on his weekly radio program.
“That’s not all. Yorely’s husband was forcibly transferred to El Salvador. He is one of the 252 victims of the CECOT prison. Yorely was deported to Venezuela, but they didn’t return her daughter to her; the United States stole her daughter. This is what the young mother is denouncing, and the Venezuelan government is also alerting the world to this aggression against Venezuelans and the trafficking of children from the United States.”
Washington’s excuse
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) justified the separation of a Venezuelan minor from her family, alleging that the child’s parents were linked to the now-defunct Tren de Aragua criminal gang, EFE reported.
According to the DHS, the separation was justified by the alleged ties of the father, Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who, per the US version, is a “lieutenant” of Tren de Aragua. Meanwhile, the mother, Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte, was allegedly “in charge” of recruiting young women for the criminal organization. US authorities also noted that both parents had outstanding deportation orders.
316 Migrants Arrive in Venezuela From Mexico; No Members of Fictitious Tren De Aragua Gang
Many in Venezuela seriously doubt US claims, arguing that most deported migrants allegedly tied to Tren de Aragua lack evidence. Out of more than 3,000 arrivals to Venezuela in recent months, none have any recorded relation with the extinct criminal gang, as reported by Venezuelan authorities.
Troubling track record of the US
Anahí Arizmendi, president of the Great Mission Return to the Homeland, pointed out that this is a systematic violation of the law. The United States has not ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, prosecutes children as adults, and, until recently, had the death penalty for minors. “We are talking about a country that repeatedly violates all of the rights of children. But in and of itself, the children should have been with their families. Separating them from their families is a violation of international law.”
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/JB
