Venezuela welcomes home nationals deported from US in Guantanamo Bay

Venezuela receives nationals from Guantanamo Bay after US deportation, rejecting criminalisation.

Venezuela said it received a flight of its nationals that it says were “unfairly” taken to the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being deported from the US.

Following their deportation from the United States, Venezuela claimed to have received a flight of its citizens who were "unfairly" sent to the US military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP/Cristian Hernandez)

“The US government decided to send a group of Venezuelans there,” said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello as the plane was landing. “Today, fortunately, they are returning to our country.”

In a statement released earlier, Venezuela said it rejected “any attempt to criminalize the nation and its citizens,” and that if any of the repatriated had committed a crime “they would act accordingly with Venezuelan law and in respect for human rights.”

The flight, that landed late Thursday carrying around 180 people, is the third repatriation flight between the US and Venezuela since President Donald Trump’s special envoy and Nicolás Maduro agreed to a fresh start and the release of six American prisoners earlier this month. The first two flights arrived on Feb. 10.

The US Homeland Security Department didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has previously declined to provide any details of who was jailed at Guantanamo Bay, including what if any criminal history they had.

In social media posts boasting about the transfers and other immigration arrests, officials have used the phrases “worst of the worst” and “the worst first,” claiming that at least some of the men were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration.