Venezuelans flown home as US deportation flights resume

Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello walks down a plane after the arrival of 311 Venezuelan migrants at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on March 20, 2025. [AFP] Venezuela on Monday received nearly 200 citizens deported from the United States via Honduras, as President Donald Trump cracks down on undocumented foreigners. A plane carrying the deportees touched down early Monday at Maiquetia International Airport outside the capital Caracas. "Today we are receiving 199 compatriots," said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at the airport. Live footage showed young men in sweatsuits walking off the plane. Some of them were seen smiling and clapping as officials looked on. The flight comes after Venezuela on Saturday announced it had reached an agreement with Washington to resume repatriation flights from the United States. It was the latest in a string of repatriations of Venezuelan migrants since US President Donald Trump took office in January. "Flights are resuming," Cabello said at the airport. "Trips have had little regularity, not because of Venezuela." "We are ready to receive Venezuelans wherever they are," he added. The deportation pipeline was suspended last month when Trump claimed Venezuela had not lived up to a deal to quickly receive deported migrants, and Caracas subsequently said it would no longer accept the flights. But then Washington deported 238 Venezuelans accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization, to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a move deeply criticized by Caracas. The migrants were deported via Honduras, the US State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said. "We expect to see a consistent flow of deportation flights to Venezuela going forward," it posted on X. Last month, Trump revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to operate in Venezuela -- a blow to Caracas's wobbly economy. The Republican president said Maduro had failed to accept deported migrants "at the rapid pace" they agreed to. The countries broke off diplomatic relations in 2019, during Trump's first term, after Washington recognized then-opposition leader Juan Guaido as "interim president" following 2018 elections widely rejected as neither free nor fair. Maduro nevertheless maintained his grip on power, and Joe Biden's administration relaxed sanctions on Venezuelan oil as part of a deal for American prisoners and a promise to hold free elections. Those promised reforms never came. Washington did not recognize Maduro's reelection last year to a third six-year term in a vote he is widely accused of stealing. There had been glimmers of hope for the relationship at the start of Trump's new term, with US envoys in Caracas for talks. Then Trump invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act to target Tren de Aragua, and sparked anger by reaching a deal with Salvadoran leader Nayib Bukele to use his Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) outside San Salvador.

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