First deportation flight with 199 Venezuelans lands in Caracas as repatriations resume

Caracas [Venezuela], March 24 (ANI):
A chartered flight carrying nearly 200 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States landed safely in Venezuela on Monday, CNN reported.

This marked the resumption of repatriation flights between the two countries, following a recent agreement. The plane, which originated in the US and made a stopover in Honduras, touched down at an airport just north of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

Footage of the arrival showed deportees expressing relief and joy, with some celebrating and others making the sign of the cross as they disembarked, as per CNN. "Today, deportation flights of Venezuelan illegal aliens to their homeland resumed via Honduras," the department wrote on X.

"These individuals had no legal basis to remain in the United States. We expect to see a consistent flow of deportation flights to Venezuela going forward. Thank you to Honduran President Castro and her government for partnering to combat illegal immigration."

Honduras's Secretary of Foreign Affairs said 199 citizens of Venezuelan origin were on the flight. The transfer took three and a half hours and occurred "in an orderly and safe manner," Enrique Reina said in a post on X.

According to CNN, repatriations to Venezuela had stalled over the US President Donald Trump administration's decision in February to revoke a license allowing American oil company Chevron to carry out some operations in the South American country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said at the time that the decision "affected" the flights to Venezuela, prompting the Trump administration to threaten further sanctions on the South American country.

The resumption of repatriation flights follows growing outrage in Venezuela over the US deporting 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, who were then transferred to the notorious Cecot mega-prison.

The US accused those migrants of being members of the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, but some of their relatives told CNN that the deportees were not involved in any criminal activity.

Source: ANI