At least 199 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived on Monday after the two countries agreed to restart flights.
This was announced by Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Monday.
It was gathered that a diplomatic spat last week fueled already tense relations as the United States accused Venezuela of turning down deportations flights, and Caracas hit back accusing Washington of blocking them.
As that was happening, a flight full of deported Venezuelans arrived from Mexico, a country which has pledged to accept migrants from other countries sent by the United States.
Flights have been irregular not because of Venezuela, Cabello said, stating that they will be dependent on the United States.
The United States reportedly sent the deportees initially to Honduras, where they were intercepted by Venezuelan state airline Conviasa and arrived in Caracas at 1 a.m. local time.
“We look forward to seeing a regular stream of deportation flights to Venezuela in the coming days,” the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs tweeted announcing the flight.
According to the White House, the dispute also comes after US President Donald Trump employed an obscure wartime law to rapidly deport members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua that has been labeled by Washington as a terror organization and alien enemy.
While a judge quickly shut down the measure, the Trump administration deported a minimum of 200 Venezuelans, 137 pursuant to the war act, to El Salvador in which they were being held within the country’s behemoth anti-terrorism prison.
Venezuela, meanwhile, dismissed the migrants’ linkage with the criminal network, one claimed to be shut down by the government.
The migrants’ attorneys and family members also refuted gang membership and suggested that some of them could have been deported because of their tattoos, which they suggested US immigration authorities claimed represent gang membership.
Cabello on Monday said that the Venezuelans in El Salvador were being held hostage and asked for their rights to be respected.
