A woman takes a selfie with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (after a ceremony to celebrate the return of the 2-year-old girl Maikelys Espinoza to Venezuela), at Miraflores Palace, Caracas, on May 15, 2025. Photo: Venezuela's Presidential Press.
“We have already brought back more than 5,000 migrants who were in prisons in the US,” said the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, during the celebration of Venezuelan Family Day. He added that all migrants will return, “sooner rather than later.”
The president condemned the US for the acts of injustice it has committed and for the aggression its regime has carried out against Venezuelan families. These families are victims of racism and slander due to false associations with the Aragua Train criminal gang, noted President Maduro.
“Our migrants are hardworking and honest people,” he said. “Migrating is not a crime but persecuting, torturing, and disappearing migrants is.” In addition, asserted Maduro, “sanctioning a country is also a crime.”
Consequently, he accused far-right Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and the US empire of orchestrating these actions. President Maduro praised recent protests in Venezuela, adding that “when millions of Venezuelan girls and boys took to the streets to demand freedom for kidnapped migrants, things began to change—unity is strength.”
The Venezuelan leader reiterated that all citizens will return “safe, sound, and free to their homeland.”
Everyone will return
Human rights defender Camila Fabri, also participating in the mass rally, condemned the detention of Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador, calling their situation an injustice.
“Today, we are supporting families of kidnapped migrants in El Salvador in this march to raise our voices against the injustice faced by our Venezuelan brothers and sisters,” she stated from Miraflores Palace in Caracas, the closing site of Thursday’s Family Day rally.
The event united organizations and families of citizens affected by the racist US migration decisions that have violated basic human rights. Fabri emphasized that 252 Venezuelans have been held incommunicado for 62 days: “The anguish on their families’ faces is terrible.”
She also highlighted President Nicolás Maduro’s commitment to repatriating citizens, citing efforts to bring back Alex Saab and Maikelys Espinoza. “I am sure our kidnapped brothers and sisters in El Salvador will return. They will all return!”
(RedRadioVE) by Victoria Torres
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
