US repatriation flights to Venezuela had ground to a halt weeks ago after the Trump administration revoked a licence allowing Venezuela to export some of its oil to the US despite sanctions.
But on Saturday the two governments, which have no diplomatic relations, reached an agreement on resuming the flights, as part of the Trump administration’s plan to remove undocumented migrants.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro described the flights as a chance to “rescue and free migrants from prisons in the US”.
As they disembarked from the plane early on Monday, some of the deportees raised their arms and waved.
They had earlier been transferred from the US state of Texas to Honduras, in Central America, from where they were flown by Venezuelan flag carrier Conviasa to Maiquetía, north of Caracas.
The US Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs described them as “illegal aliens” who “had no basis to remain in the United States”.
The head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, on the other hand stressed on Saturday that migration was “not a crime”.
Venezuela had originally agreed to take in Venezuelan deportees from the US in a deal struck by Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, in Caracas in January.
It was widely seen as a victory for Trump, who has made deporting undocumented migrants a priority.
However, Maduro said on 8 March that the US administration’s decision to revoke the licence of oil giant Chevron to operate in Venezuela had created “a little problem”.
A week later, the Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelans to a mega-prison in El Salvador, arguing that they were members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
It caused an outcry in Venezuela, where several relatives of those deported to El Salvador insisted their loved ones had no criminal connections.
The deportation of Venezuelans to El Salvador’s feared Cecot prison was followed by a warning posted on X by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week that Venezuela would face “severe and escalating” sanctions if it refused to accept its citizens deported from the US.
The following day, Maduro ordered his government to “step up the action needed to guarantee return flights for detained migrants”.
