MAIQUETÍA (AFP) – The United States (US) deported 177 migrants from its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba to their homeland in Venezuela on Thursday, the latest sign of cooperation between the long-feuding governments.
Officials in Washington and Caracas confirmed that a plane left the US base and deposited the 177 people in Honduras, where they were picked up by the Venezuelan government.
The deportees then left for Venezuela on a flag carrier Conviasa flight that arrived in Maiquetia on Thursday.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello received the all-male group of deportees at the airport, telling them, “Welcome to the homeland”.
“Those who returned, in theory, are all Venezuelans who were in Guantanamo,” Cabello told journalists, adding that another deportation flight was expected to arrive at the end of the week.
The carefully choreographed operation would have seemed impossible just weeks ago when the US accused President Nicolas Maduro of stealing an election.
But since US President Donald Trump entered office four weeks ago, relations have thawed, with the White House prioritising immigration cooperation.
Maduro said the handover was at the “direct request” of his government to that of Trump. “We have rescued 177 new migrants from Guantanamo,” he said at an official event.
Trump envoy Richard Grenell travelled to Caracas on January 31 and met Maduro, who is the subject of a USD25 million bounty for his arrest.
Grenell brokered the release of six US prisoners. A day later Trump announced Venezuela had agreed to accept illegal migrants deported from the US.
