This Thursday, March 20, a total of 311 Venezuelan migrants arrived in Caracas on a flight of the Venezuelan airline Conviasa as part of the plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland). teleSUR
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00:00:00Hello, join us as we go live to Venezuela's 306 Venezuelan migrants are arriving at this
00:00:10moment at the International Airport of Maiketilla from Mexico as part of the Back to the Homeland
00:00:16Plan.
00:00:17Let's see the images.
00:00:19We are seeing how the airplane is arriving at this moment at the International Airport
00:00:24of Maiketilla, Simon Bolivar, with 306 Venezuelan migrants arriving from Mexico as part of the
00:00:33Back to the Homeland Plan, a plan that is aimed to return to the safe return to the
00:00:39homeland of migrants in the U.S. who are being deported amid the massive deportation campaign
00:00:46that is taking place under the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump ever since he took
00:00:53office on January 20th of this year.
00:00:56Let's recall that President Nicolás Maduro made this announcement this Wednesday.
00:01:02He also ordered to increase all diplomatic actions to bring Venezuelan migrants back
00:01:07from the United States.
00:01:09In a televised message on Tuesday, the President informed that he has ordered to increase all
00:01:15diplomatic actions to bring all Venezuelans from the United States.
00:01:20On Thursday, this is what he said at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock in the morning, Caracas time, also
00:01:27Havana time, 306 migrants will arrive via Mexico airport.
00:01:34President Maduro informed this during the installation of the National Fair of Cebu
00:01:39and its crosses in La Carlota.
00:01:42The airplane of Conviasa, the national airline of the country, who is waving the flag of
00:01:50the return to the homeland plan, is arriving at this moment with 306 migrants, Venezuelan
00:01:56migrants, women and men, in a dignified manner and in a safe manner.
00:02:02He also said the President mentioned that he instructed the special envoy for the peace
00:02:08negotiations with the United States, Jorge RodrĂguez, to warranty the flights of the
00:02:14back to the homeland with the migrants who have been detained in the North American country.
00:02:20I have ordered to increase all diplomatic actions to bring all Venezuelans from the
00:02:25United States.
00:02:26No migrant will be left behind.
00:02:28These were the words of President Nicolás Maduro, who has been insisting in the safe
00:02:34return in a dignified manner of all migrants who have been imprisoned, illegally imprisoned
00:02:42in the United States under the alleged justification of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang who
00:02:51has been dismantled previously by the government of Venezuela.
00:02:56So the President also stressed that the special envoy for the peace negotiations, Jorge RodrĂguez,
00:03:04is said to warranty this safe return of the flights.
00:03:08While we advance, he mentioned, in the rescue of those who are being kidnapped in concentration
00:03:15camps in El Salvador.
00:03:16This is part of the context in which this arrival is taking place amid a national climb
00:03:23to the return of migrants who have been kidnapped in Salvadoran concentration camps illegally,
00:03:31unjustified, in an unjustified manner.
00:03:35As you call that Donald Trump's special envoy, Richard Grenell, made the announcement that
00:03:41as of March 14th, repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants will be resumed.
00:03:49This following an agreement between the governments of Venezuela and the United States.
00:03:55Through his social networks, Grenell informed and highlighted that the flights will be reinstated
00:04:02to return Venezuelan citizens who enter the U.S. illegally.
00:04:07The Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, for his part, previously stated that diplomatic
00:04:13relations had been affected due to the U.S. decision to revoke the license of oil company
00:04:20Chevron in Venezuela, this with the complicity of Guyana's government in its attempts to
00:04:28undermine Venezuela's economic development.
00:04:31And also this new agreement that is being set at this moment with the arrival of this
00:04:37new group of migrants to the country is seeking to reactivate the repatriation under the plan
00:04:46Back to the Homeland, a Venezuelan program that has allowed the return of more than 914,000
00:04:54migrants to the country since its implementation in 2018 by orders of President Nicolás Maduro.
00:05:01However, the flight scheduled for this Friday was rescheduled due to the adverse weather
00:05:07conditions that is why this airplane is arriving at this moment at the International Airport
00:05:14in MaigadĂa, La Guaira State.
00:05:17This caused the flight due to the flight restrictions and also in this context Minister Diosdado
00:05:22Cabello, the Minister of Interior and Peace Diosdado Cabello highlighted that for the
00:05:27first time the U.S. authorities did not qualify the repatriates as criminals nor terrorists,
00:05:33a correction that was celebrated by the Venezuelan government.
00:05:38This agreement that took place recently also reflects that the Venezuelan government's
00:05:44commitment to warranty the rights of its migrants and also offer opportunities for social reintegration
00:05:52is very much at stake.
00:05:55Also what's the return to the Homeland plan and also what's its role in this massive deportations
00:06:04campaign that is taking place under the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump and
00:06:09also the stigmatization against Venezuelan migrants and not just Venezuelans but all
00:06:14migrants from all nationalities in the U.S.
00:06:17Since early January four flights had been carried out due to agreements between the
00:06:24U.S. and Venezuela and it's been taking place in three phases.
00:06:29This is the fifth plane that is arriving from Venezuela back to the Homeland plan which
00:06:35was created by President Nicolás Maduro as we recently mentioned in 2018 and which is
00:06:42an example for the humanistic policy of the Bolivarian Revolution.
00:06:47These people who left for the promised American dream to seek all the goals on their false
00:06:54promises and received mistreatment return to the Homeland today.
00:06:59They were always and will always be received by the Minister of Interior Relations, Justice
00:07:06and Peace of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, with great joy as we have been witnessing
00:07:12in early arrivals to the country.
00:07:17Also waving Venezuelan flags, the flag of their Homeland and also to be received with
00:07:26open arms to the country and also to the hands being handed over to their families who are
00:07:34longing to see them come to the country in a respectful way, in a dignified manner, with
00:07:43no shackles, with no hostilities towards them.
00:07:49These Conviasa flights were re-established also thanks to the meeting that Maduro had
00:07:56with Trump's Special Envoy, Richard Grenell.
00:07:59Let's listen now to the statements of the Minister.
00:08:04Looks like the Interior Minister is at the moment in the airport receiving in first hand
00:08:14the migrants that are arriving from the U.S. that also were transferred in Mexico and arriving
00:08:23at this moment from Mexico's international airport.
00:08:28Hundreds of Venezuelans have arrived thanks to the return Homeland plan and this is a
00:08:37new group far away from violence, far away from evil, far away from all that persecution,
00:08:47repression applied in the United States, far away from the persecution applied just for
00:08:55being Venezuelans or just for having a tattoo, far away from considering Venezuelans as criminals,
00:09:04far away from those that have mistreated our people.
00:09:08So they are welcome warmly, with solidarity, with brothers who hug from all that they are
00:09:17coming.
00:09:18That's the way we are working between governments without any violations, abuses, threats.
00:09:27So the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has given the instruction to bring all Venezuelans
00:09:33back and we will achieve it, we will do it.
00:09:38Those who have been kidnapped by the government of El Salvador, those who have been sent from
00:09:43the United States and they have been labeled as criminals without being subjected to any
00:09:49trial, without having any criminal records.
00:09:53So we expected them to be back in Venezuela.
00:09:56We hope that the Salvadoran government delivered all Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador for
00:10:04them to meet with their families, brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and grandparents.
00:10:12So in this room, there are coming children who are traveling alone.
00:10:20They are just doing the trip by themselves so they will meet again with their grandparents
00:10:27and their parents.
00:10:28So we are just serving them warmly with affection and we are just deploying the same strategy
00:10:38that we have pursued in all the flights that have been made.
00:10:45So we have physicians specialized in children and there is a person with health issues and
00:11:00every citizen is prioritized, taken to the hospital, taken to the medical centers and
00:11:06then they are delivered to their homes, to their families.
00:11:10So we are a responsible government with some partners who have been suffering from what
00:11:19it meant to abandon the country and they have been used by criminal coyotes who apply the
00:11:27same technique and are just negotiating from El Salvador, negotiating lives and the future
00:11:33of hundreds of Venezuelans that are just suffering from these predicaments.
00:11:40Today, Venezuela received its sons and daughters and children who come back to their homeland
00:11:48with the hope of reincorporating to their normal life.
00:11:52We have the return homeland life plan and so there are all officials and all security
00:12:01institutions at the service of Venezuelans and the Red Cross is there here, the migration
00:12:07police, all the institutions attending Venezuelans because they come from a very uncomfortable
00:12:16situation which even increases desperation and so we receive them work warmly after the
00:12:31fact the suffering and being kidnapped by the United States government who doesn't
00:12:39care about human rights.
00:12:41So we will welcome them warmly and let's see.
00:12:51We were listening to Minister of Interior and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, who is at this
00:12:56moment at the International Airport of Mexico, in the White State, receiving the 306 migrants
00:13:04that are arriving at this moment from the United States after trespassing in Mexico's
00:13:09International Airport.
00:13:11He mentioned that those migrants, these migrants that we are going to welcome today are far
00:13:17away from persecution, are far away from oppression that being subjected to in the U.S. and applied
00:13:23by the U.S. immigration authorities just for example for having tattoos they were
00:13:29pointed at as criminals and this is a violation of their human rights, of their migrant rights.
00:13:37That's the way we are going to work, he said, without violations nor threats.
00:13:42We will achieve the orders of Venezuelan President for the safe return of Venezuelan con-nationals,
00:13:48as Diosdado mentioned, and also he hoped that Salvadoran government release the Venezuelans
00:13:54who are kidnapped at this moment in a concentration camp in El Salvador, which the government
00:13:59is receiving money, the government of Nayib Bukele is receiving money from the U.S. administration
00:14:06to help Venezuelan migrants kidnapped in these concentration camps for, as if they were a
00:14:14merchandise, unusable merchandise.
00:14:17Also Diosdado Cabello mentioned that in this flight Venezuela is receiving women, men and
00:14:24children.
00:14:25They are receiving them with affection, with love, as opposed to the hatred with which
00:14:30they were treated by the U.S. authorities.
00:14:34Every citizen will be prioritized, he said.
00:14:37They will be taken to hospitals to perform some checks and make sure that they are in
00:14:41good health conditions, that they didn't suffer any mistreatment, any physical mistreatment.
00:14:48And also afterwards these checks that they are going to be performing at a specialized
00:14:54hospital in the country, they will be allowed to reunite with their families who are very
00:15:00anxious for seeing them.
00:15:02We have seen at this moment the migrants who are waiting inside the aircraft of Conviasa
00:15:09to be reunited with their families, to be treated with respect, with dignity.
00:15:15Something that President Nicolás Maduro mentioned earlier this week is that these migrants are
00:15:19being treated like criminals in a way, for example, they are arriving in the country
00:15:23without personal belongings, they are treated, being treated like they were some sort of
00:15:30criminals who belonged, allegedly they said, to the criminal gang, Tren de Aragua, a criminal
00:15:36gang that has been already dismantled by the government.
00:15:41Also Diosdado Cabello, who is at this moment at the international airport of Maiketilla,
00:15:47said that they come, all these men and women and children you are seeing on your screens
00:15:53at this moment come from uncomfortable situations and they will be received warmly as we are
00:16:00seeing at this moment.
00:16:02They are waving flags, Venezuelan flags, you can feel the joy of being safe in their
00:16:08country, of being received under a dignified condition.
00:16:13They have been received with high honors, with highest authorities waiting for them
00:16:18and welcoming them.
00:16:20You are very welcome in your country.
00:16:22Let's see some insight of what this process is about.
00:16:27This is the fifth airplane that is arriving in the country since early January, since
00:16:33Donald Trump took office and warned of these massive deportations that were said to take
00:16:39place as if he would take office.
00:16:42And the first flight that came earlier in the year brought back to the country 190 migrants
00:16:49from Texas.
00:16:51The second plane happened in the same day.
00:16:56Also there was a flight that came from the Guantanamo Naval Base where also migrants
00:17:00were being kidnapped there as part of the plan of the U.S. government to help the criminal
00:17:08aliens, as they said, in the illegal naval base that the U.S. has been holding in Cuban
00:17:17territory for centuries without respecting the national sovereignty of Cuba.
00:17:22And also at this moment is serving as a hotspot for the imprisonment, illegal imprisonment
00:17:30of thousands and thousands of migrants being held there as allegedly being criminals, dangerous
00:17:40criminals.
00:17:41And Venezuela rescued a group of over 170 nationals who were being kidnapped in this
00:17:50Guantanamo Naval Base earlier this year.
00:17:53So this, as we mentioned, is the fifth flight that comes to Venezuela with migrants being
00:18:00safe and being transferred in a safe way, in a dignified way from the U.S.
00:18:07Diosdado Cabello, also Secretary General of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, announced
00:18:15that the Back to the Homeland plan will continue with upcoming flights that are going to come
00:18:21from Bolivia and also shared that this program, which started in 2018, is not conjectural
00:18:30or influenced by the United States.
00:18:32He highlighted that more than 920,000 Venezuelans have returned to the country from many countries
00:18:39around the world in a safe way under this plan that is providing the necessary attention
00:18:48for the incoming migrants.
00:18:50Cabello also referred to the decision to suspend temporarily this Return to the Homeland plan
00:18:58due to the decisions of the U.S. to interrupt and also apply sanctions to the Chevron oil
00:19:05company with also the complicity that had the Guyanese government of President Irfan Ali
00:19:14in this process, in this decision to interrupt the labor that Chevron was carrying out in
00:19:23the country for a century, just to undermine Venezuela's capability to develop.
00:19:31At this moment, we are seeing high authorities that are entering the airplane, the Conviasa
00:19:37airplane, saluting and welcoming the migrants arriving from the U.S.
00:19:44This moment, at this hour, Telesur English is bringing you all the latest information
00:19:51that are coming from Caracas, Venezuela.
00:19:54At this hour, we are seeing flags being waved, Venezuelan flags.
00:19:59Diosdado Cabello is at this moment inside the aircraft and he's welcoming personally
00:20:08the migrants that are being received today in the country.
00:20:12He is for sure mentioning that they are welcome in their country in a warm way, in a dignified way.
00:20:21Also, let's talk about the Venezuelans kidnapped in Salvadoran concentration camps.
00:20:29On Sunday, this week, the Venezuelan government and also the people strongly rejected the
00:20:36deportation of 238 Venezuelans from the United States to El Salvador, where the migrants
00:20:45are subjected at this moment to mistreatment and imprisoned under inadequate conditions.
00:20:51In this regard, the outlet La Iguana TV recalled that the current stigmatization of migrants
00:20:57in the United States would not exist if it weren't for the actions of the Venezuelan
00:21:03far-right opposition, who is playing a key role in this stigmatization of Venezuelans
00:21:09in the U.S. who are calling for sanctions which prompt the Venezuelan migration due
00:21:18to the economic hardships that it causes upon the Venezuelan people who are the main
00:21:24affected by these decisions, these hostilities and these sanctions, economic sanctions applied
00:21:31on the Venezuelan country.
00:21:35Also, as we are seeing at this moment in the images, Diosdado Cabello is at the airport,
00:21:43is inside the aircraft, the Conviasa aircraft, receiving the migrants that just arrived in
00:21:49the country, and he's, for sure, he's saying that they are going to be treated, they are
00:21:57going to be taken to a hospital to make a quick check, and also then they will be able
00:22:06to return to their families, to return to their homes in a safe way.
00:22:11Let's recall that extremist MarĂa Corina Machado, extremist Juan Guaido, extremist
00:22:19Leopoldo LĂłpez, are responsible for the abuse suffered by Venezuelan migrants who are being
00:22:26sent by the U.S. to El Salvador to be interned in the terrorist confinement center, as they
00:22:33said.
00:22:36Also on Sunday, this week, videos posted on social media showed Venezuelan migrants being
00:22:42deported to El Salvador under degrading conditions, shackled and subjected to mistreatment as
00:22:48if they were criminals.
00:22:50You can contrast this idea with the images we are seeing at this moment, the migrants
00:22:56are being received under respectful conditions.
00:23:02The relatives of the Venezuelan migrants are the first along the government who are
00:23:06being demanding that El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele investigate this case, as many
00:23:12of the deported individuals do not belong to any criminal gang.
00:23:16The families explain that the group of Venezuelans had voluntarily turned themselves in to U.S.
00:23:23authorities to be returned to Venezuela because they were experiencing hardships in the United
00:23:28States.
00:23:30Local humanitarian organizations recalled that the Inter-American Commission on Human
00:23:35Rights has questioned the conditions of the El Salvadoran prison system as inmates are
00:23:41kept away from their families, they have no communications with their families and lack
00:23:46adequate and timely warranties for their defense.
00:23:52Once placed in El Salvadoran prisons, this group of over 200 migrants, the deported migrants
00:23:59have no means to understand what crimes they are being charged with, when they will be
00:24:04processed or what right to legal defense they are going to be granted with.
00:24:11Also this week on Sunday, I'm explaining this because it is the context in which this airplane
00:24:16is arriving at this moment in the country, in Venezuela.
00:24:20The government of President Nicolás Maduro categorically rejected the decision by U.S.
00:24:25President Donald Trump to apply a 1798 law known as the Alien and Enemies Act, which
00:24:33links Venezuelan migrants to the Aragua train without providing any evidence to facilitate
00:24:39their mass exposure.
00:24:42The Trump administration sent the Venezuelans to El Salvador despite U.S. District Judge
00:24:48James Bassberg ordering the immediate suspension of deportations based on this centuries-old
00:24:55Alien and Enemies Act, which is also a neo-fascist law.
00:25:00Recently, the Venezuelan president announced that the false narrative about the presence
00:25:05of Aragua train members in the U.S. was promoted by the far right to stigmatize Venezuelan
00:25:11migration.
00:25:12Precisely, Diosdado Cabello mentioned at this moment in the airport that many of these migrants
00:25:19were being catalogued as criminals just because they had tattoos, for example.
00:25:26And this is a very untrue and unjustified manner to categorize a person.
00:25:36Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello also accused in this context the far right opposition of
00:25:42human trafficking network along the Mexico-U.S. border, turning migration into a source of
00:25:49profit.
00:25:50This has been said ever since the mass deportations took place after the arrival of Donald Trump
00:25:58to power.
00:26:01Also this happened as the White House ignored the court and invoked Alien and Enemies Act
00:26:08to deport hundreds of Venezuelans.
00:26:13This plane that arrived from U.S. to El Salvador touched down in La Paz, El Salvador's capital,
00:26:20and within moments they were hustled onto the tarmac and into buses.
00:26:25More than 200 immigrants were deported en masse from the U.S. and they were shackled,
00:26:31their hair shaved off, and now locked in one of El Salvador's most infamous mega-prisons.
00:26:41It came after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien and Enemies Act of 1798, a sweeping
00:26:48wartime authority allowing the president to detain and deport citizens of, and I quote,
00:26:56as he said, without hearing of any sort, which is a violation of human rights and a violation
00:27:04of migrant human rights.
00:27:08Donald Trump, the president of the United States, assured during a press conference
00:27:13afterwards this came to light without providing evidence that these were bad people, that
00:27:22those Venezuelans taken to El Salvador were bad people, as he said, that it was a bad
00:27:27group of, as he said, hombres, and he continued, this is an invasion, they invaded our country,
00:27:36so this isn't, in that sense, war.
00:27:40In many respects it's more dangerous than a war because in war they have uniforms.
00:27:46This is all the sort of things that Donald Trump mentioned after sending hundreds of
00:27:52Venezuelan migrants, children, many of them, that are not over 18 years old, many of them.
00:28:02That was the way he referred to them.
00:28:05Let's recall that the U.S. is also paying 6 million U.S. dollars to El Salvador to detain
00:28:11the migrants, one part of the president's mass deportation plans, and also he's playing
00:28:17out in spite of a federal judge's quick weekend order to temporarily block it.
00:28:23In a dramatic court hearing Saturday, last Saturday, federal district judge James Boasberg
00:28:29verbally ordered the planes carrying the deportees to turn around immediately, but later that
00:28:35night El Salvador released a video of immigrants being frot-walked off buses and into jail.
00:28:43The next morning El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele posted a headline about the judge's
00:28:49order, writing, oopsie, too late, with a laughing emoji.
00:28:53Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted a tweet from El Salvador's president mocking
00:28:59the American judge's order.
00:29:01Immediately he mentioned, thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele.
00:29:07This is, this is what is happening in politics in this context.
00:29:12This deportation of migrants, of Venezuelan migrants, is a political move and is a violation
00:29:19of human rights and is taking place in a televised manner as the whole world looks, it's worrying
00:29:28gaze at what is happening in this moment.
00:29:33We are seeing the arrival of Conviasa airplane with 306 migrants from the United States who
00:29:43transported in Mexico, in the international airport of Mexico, and then towards the international
00:29:51airport of Maiketia in La Guaira state, Venezuela.
00:29:56These migrants are arriving in the country in a dignified manner, in a respectful way,
00:30:02with a warm welcoming, with the highest honors, with the highest authorities receiving them.
00:30:11And this is taking place thanks to the back to the homeland plan applied since 2018 for
00:30:16precisely this, for the safe return of Venezuelan nationals abroad.
00:30:23So let's talk about Trump's massive deportation campaign.
00:30:27Let's recall that US President Donald Trump rose to power by making mass deportations
00:30:35of undocumented migrants a central promise of his campaign.
00:30:39Today, as we are seeing, these promises have become a stark reality, one that the world
00:30:47is watching with growing concern.
00:30:51And let's recall that according to experts, carrying out massive deportations are involved
00:30:58in massive and costly expansions of immigration enforcement efforts in disruptions to communities.
00:31:06For example, during an interview with precisely this multiplatform Telesur, US-based attorney
00:31:14Jose Pertierra assured that his clients, and also immigrants in general, are being
00:31:21terrified of what's going on in the US because this is a movement that is being televised
00:31:27by Trump, precisely as we've been witnessing for over weeks, that with the sole purpose
00:31:36of endangering terror, of engendering terror fear in the hearts of every immigrant in the
00:31:43United States, these raids, what we've been seeing, and these transfers to El Salvador
00:31:50have been precisely this, has the sole purpose of placing terror among the immigrants in
00:31:58the United States.
00:32:00Let's see this moment that migrants are starting to come down the stairs of the Conviasa airplane.
00:32:10We can see there are men, there are women, there's a man holding a child.
00:32:15This is the face, the true face of the Venezuelan migration abroad, families who are seeking
00:32:22better living conditions because of the sanctions imposed on the country, because of the hardships
00:32:30that the common Venezuelans are facing due to the economic sanctions.
00:32:37Just 1,000 sanctions are being applied at this moment against the nation with the sole
00:32:42purpose of generating chaos in the country, of suffocating the economy of Venezuela in
00:32:49order for the people to have no other choice but asking for a change of government, which
00:32:56hasn't, this is a plan that hasn't succeeded, and it has other examples in the region.
00:33:02For example, against Cuba, they are seeking ways to asphyxiate the economy of the country.
00:33:09We are talking about the powers, the hegemonic powers, we are talking about the U.S. who
00:33:14are trying through this mechanism, through these unilateral sanctions, to suffocate an
00:33:21economy, to suffocate a people.
00:33:23And this is the main reason why Venezuelans, Cubans, and other migrants from all over the
00:33:31world who are being also subjected to sanctions of the U.S., are trying to seek for other
00:33:37alternatives, but at this moment they are facing a crude, cruel reality in the U.S.
00:33:45They are not wanted, they are being stigmatized, especially Venezuelans, and this is happening
00:33:53because of the cause, because of the claims of the extreme right wing of the country,
00:34:01who are asking for more sanctions, who are asking for Venezuelans to be mistreated abroad
00:34:08under the alleged justification of belonging to El Trenderau, a criminal gang who has been
00:34:14dismantled as the president has insisted for weeks.
00:34:19Also we are seeing more children, we are seeing girls, we are seeing boys, all of them waving
00:34:27Venezuelan flags at this moment.
00:34:31Let's go back to the idea in which these massive deportations that are taking place
00:34:38in the U.S. is also harmful for the U.S. society.
00:34:43Why?
00:34:44Because these raids that are on purpose televised with reporters embedded with Immigration and
00:34:51Customs Enforcement Service, the ICE, as they raid different places where immigrants may
00:34:58be gathering, for example, are a way to threat these migrants, legally residents of the U.S.
00:35:06But it's also harming the economy of the country, who has a high percentage of Venezuelan people,
00:35:14of Mexicans, of Cubans, who are being working tirelessly to support the economy of the U.S.
00:35:24In these flights, many of these flights where the deputies were being shackled like dangerous
00:35:30criminals with their wrists and their feet shackled, they were made to kneel down in
00:35:36military planes.
00:35:37This is a way to harass the people.
00:35:41That is a humiliating way to deport people from the United States.
00:35:46These are people who came here, who came to the U.S. to work.
00:35:50They came to the U.S. to improve their living conditions, to also improve the living conditions
00:35:58of their families.
00:35:59We're seeing whole families here at this moment arriving in Venezuela.
00:36:03These are families who travel together in a way to seek better economic horizons.
00:36:10The vast majority of them are hardworking people, as the President has mentioned in
00:36:16many occasions, and also the Interior Minister, the Minister of Interior and Peace, Jose Alcabello,
00:36:22who is, by the way, at this moment in the international airport of Maiketilla, receiving
00:36:27the migrants in first hand, in person, with his arms open, in a warmly way.
00:36:36He's greeting everyone.
00:36:38He's shaking hands with everyone.
00:36:41So the vast majority, as I was mentioning, the vast majority of them are hardworking
00:36:47people.
00:36:48And to treat them this way is a way to try to, again, terrorize the rest of the immigrant
00:36:54community.
00:36:55And it's a way of saying, if we catch you, this is what is going to happen to you.
00:37:03Many Venezuelans are themselves trying to ask for the U.S. authorities to return them
00:37:09to the country.
00:37:10And this is what happened with many of the migrants who were transferred to El Salvador
00:37:16and to Salvador's El Salvador concentration camp, who are being kidnapped at this moment.
00:37:23Many of them had them over to the ICE authorities for them to be returned to their country,
00:37:31for them to return to their families, to return to their homes.
00:37:35And what happened is a violation of the human and civil rights of the deportees.
00:37:43Deportees have constitutional rights in the U.S.
00:37:47And one of them, for example, is the right to be treated humanly.
00:37:52And it's not happening, as we have been witnessing, especially very recently, this past weekend.
00:37:58And if they want to deport people, if they have an order of deportation, and if they
00:38:04want to exercise that order of deportation, they should be flown out on commercial flights
00:38:10and with all the dignity that a human being deserves.
00:38:15The U.S. needs immigrants.
00:38:18This is something that experts, authorities from all over the world have been warning.
00:38:24For example, there was recently a series of fires in Los Angeles that, in Los Angeles,
00:38:31in the U.S., that devastated that city.
00:38:35And who's going to rebuild those areas?
00:38:37Anybody who drives around construction sites in the U.S. can see that the vast majority
00:38:44of the construction workers are precisely immigrants.
00:38:48The vast majority of the service industry workers are precisely immigrants.
00:38:53It's the kind of job that they are allowed to do in the U.S. if they have no papers.
00:39:01Restaurants, hotels, the people who wash the windows in the skyscrapers are also immigrants.
00:39:08They are the ones who are doing the job, the work, in the country, even in high tax.
00:39:15The doctors, the nurses in the hospitals in the United States are also immigrants.
00:39:22With this notion that the U.S. is going to get rid of immigrants, then who is going to
00:39:28do the work?
00:39:30What's going to happen to the crops in the country, in the farms?
00:39:35Who is going to pick them?
00:39:37Who is going to serve them in the restaurants?
00:39:39Who is going to attend to people in nursing homes when they are sick?
00:39:44Who is going to attend all people, the elderly, when they need help?
00:39:48It is something that President Trump will find out if he is successful in getting rid
00:39:54of a large segment of the immigrant population.
00:39:58But he is receiving warnings and he is also shocking and facing the justice system that
00:40:08is also trying to halt these intentions of the U.S.
00:40:15Earlier this year, Venezuela received also the U.S., especially with Grinnell, regarding
00:40:21these massive deportations that the U.S. is trying to do.
00:40:26And what's the meaning of this visit?
00:40:28Why is Grinnell sitting with the Venezuelan president?
00:40:32This first of all shows that the United States, when it wants to negotiate with Venezuela,
00:40:39it negotiates with the sitting president of Venezuela and not with the far right and
00:40:45not the so-called president.
00:40:47He sits with President Nicolás Maduro.
00:40:52Also shows that the United States has got a problem on its hands with the Venezuelans
00:40:58coming to this country and why are they going to the United States?
00:41:03Why Venezuelans are risking their lives because of the heavy sanctions that have been imposed
00:41:10on Venezuela?
00:41:11And also in the context of the massive deportations and also the stigmatization of Venezuelan
00:41:16migrants, the Venezuelan government, the constitutional government of Venezuela, with President Nicolás
00:41:24Maduro as the head of state, is focusing on this that we are seeing today.
00:41:31He is focusing on warrantying their safe return through the application of the Back to the
00:41:37Homeland Plan.
00:41:39This is happening in a moment in which Venezuelans are being mistreated, in which Venezuelans
00:41:43have been subjected to violations to human rights, in which the deportations to their
00:41:50country has been taking place under precarious conditions.
00:41:55And what are we seeing today?
00:41:57We are seeing a country that has its hands wide open to receive them.
00:42:04We are seeing families reuniting.
00:42:07We are seeing a child hugging the Minister of the State of Cabello.
00:42:12We are seeing young men, young women, families, whole families together trying to re-begin
00:42:21their lives here in the country.
00:42:24And we are seeing also a government that is willing to do so, that is willing to provide
00:42:30the assistance the migrants need in order to reincorporate themselves to the society,
00:42:39to the works, to their communities.
00:42:45We are seeing young men, we are seeing children who are going to have hope in the future,
00:42:54who are going to reunite with all that they know for sure, all that has ascertained in
00:43:03their lives, which is being back to their country, being back to their modern language,
00:43:09being back to their traditions, to their food, to their flavors, to their smells.
00:43:18This is what we are seeing today in the face of hatred, in the face of isolation.
00:43:24We are seeing more unity.
00:43:26We are seeing hope among Venezuelans at this moment because there is a government that
00:43:32is willing to receive them always under no circumstances, under no previous conditions.
00:43:39We are seeing whole families that are going to be reintegrated to society, who are going
00:43:45to provide for the families from inside their country.
00:43:51They are not going to suffer any more violations to their human rights.
00:43:59This is possible through the Back to the Homeland Plan.
00:44:03And what is the Back to the Homeland Plan?
00:44:04What is the role that it's playing in this key moment for the world in which we are seeing
00:44:09hatred but we are also seeing hope?
00:44:13This great mission is reunifying the family in this new stage, is bringing Venezuelan
00:44:19migrants to safety.
00:44:22As the president said in his account on Telegram social media recently amid the announcement
00:44:29of these flights back to the country.
00:44:33The head of state also said that the socialist, Christian and humanist revolution will integrate
00:44:41them in the recovery of the country, will integrate them in the recovery of the country's
00:44:46economy.
00:44:47They have all our support as we are seeing violations, as we are seeing inhumane conditions,
00:44:57the worst inhumane conditions that a human being can suffer.
00:45:00We are seeing that but also in contrast we are seeing the way in which these Venezuelans
00:45:06are arriving in the country in a humane manner.
00:45:11They are all being received warmly.
00:45:15At this moment the minister of the state Cabello is speaking to one of the migrants.
00:45:20They are being received with highest honors.
00:45:23They are going to be transferred to a hospital and they are going to receive all the medical
00:45:28attentions they might need, taking into account the precarious conditions in which they were
00:45:35taken from the United States.
00:45:38They were imprisoned, they were mistreated and now they are going to face another reality.
00:45:46They are going to be cared, they are going to be taken to the hospital, they are going
00:45:51to receive medical attention.
00:45:53There is no way if any of those migrants, of the 306 migrants that just arrived in the
00:46:00country that might need help, they are going to receive that.
00:46:04And afterwards they are going to reunite with their whole family.
00:46:09The families that are the ones who have been on the streets this week on a massive demonstration
00:46:16that took place this week in Caracas, the capital, to support the migrants.
00:46:23These families are the key motors, the key movement that is taking place in the country
00:46:30in order to provide the support the migrants need to be reunited with them, to be reunited
00:46:36with their friends, their communities.
00:46:40And precisely this week there was a massive demonstration in the capital of Caracas to
00:46:48support the families and to support the migrants who have been kidnapped in Salvadoran concentration
00:46:56camp with the support, the complicity of Nayib Bukele's administration and also the
00:47:03U.S. administration.
00:47:04Let's recall that the Bolivarian Republic, as the president mentioned recently, has a
00:47:11very big heart and our socialist, he said, Christian revolution is a humanist revolution,
00:47:19is welcoming its children who had to go to suffer in the world as a result of the sanctions
00:47:27and also incorporates them today with an inclusive and a solidary vision to the global recovery
00:47:36of the country.
00:47:38That's what the president mentioned earlier this week during the demonstration that took
00:47:44place in Caracas in support of the families, by the families, with the families of those
00:47:51kidnapped in El Salvador concentration camp.
00:47:56Also the real truth, as the president said, is that who warranties the return of all its
00:48:06migrants to Venezuela is the Bolivarian revolution.
00:48:10In addition to ensuring peace, stability and recovery, since its emergence in 2018,
00:48:18the return to the homeland plan is warrantying the safe, the free return to Venezuela of
00:48:26more than 900,000 migrants from various parts of the world and this is according to official
00:48:33data.
00:48:34We are seeing thousands, hundreds, hundreds of migrants that are arriving in the country
00:48:41since January of this year.
00:48:45In the context of the massive deportations taking place in the U.S. following the promises
00:48:55that Donald Trump made during his electoral campaign in which he focused his intentions
00:49:01to stigmatize not just Venezuelans but all migrants from all nationalities, let's recall
00:49:06that he said, for example, that Haitian migrants were eating dogs and were eating pets in a
00:49:14county in Pennsylvania.
00:49:16Let's recall that this is very intentional.
00:49:21This is a very strong intention to stigmatize all migrants in the country and this is taking
00:49:30place in a way to harass the migrants, to make them feel unsafe, to want them not to
00:49:39go to the U.S. but most of all to want them not to be in the U.S.
00:49:45So it is dangerous for Venezuelans, as the President said precisely, also as the special
00:49:54person designated to the peace talks, Jorge Rodriguez, mentioned that Venezuela should
00:50:00warn all its travelers not to go to the U.S. because it is a very dangerous place for migrants
00:50:08and also for any traveler from Venezuela to be there because there is a high stigmatization
00:50:14against Venezuelan migrants.
00:50:16They are being blamed without evidence, without justification of being part of the so-called
00:50:21undismantled Tren de Agua gang.
00:50:26Also they are being transferred, as just happened earlier this week, during the weekend, that
00:50:34they are being transferred to concentration camps, to El Salvador, under the most infamous
00:50:40justifications, just for example for having tattoos and this is a violation of their migrant
00:50:47rights.
00:50:48At this moment, Telesur is bringing you all the details on this new flight that is arriving
00:50:55from Mexico and also arriving from the United States that made a transfer in Mexico with
00:51:02306 migrants arriving to the country.
00:51:05We are talking about children, we are talking about girls, boys, families, whole families,
00:51:11women, men, who are arriving in the country.
00:51:14We are seeing that also in this group there was also persons in vulnerability conditions
00:51:27and all of them were subjected to mistreatment by the U.S. immigration authorities.
00:51:34This is the Conviasa airplane that brought to the country 306 migrants, the Conviasa
00:51:42airline that is being the flag of the Back to the Homeland Plan.
00:51:49We are seeing at this moment there's press, there's high authorities of the government,
00:51:56also as the Minister of Interior, Diosdado Cabello, is in first hand, in person, receiving
00:52:03migrants at this moment, receiving all of them.
00:52:06He is saluting, he is greeting with a handshake all the migrants that are arriving, thanks
00:52:15to the Back to the Homeland Plan that has been in place since 2018.
00:52:21The Minister is offering statements, let's listen.
00:52:24One could say that it is the authentic return to the homeland of children, of boys and girls
00:52:36because the future of our country is there.
00:52:38And they come with the same beautiful laughter of children, of those girls and boys asking
00:52:50for their grandparents and so they will be directly taken to their homes by the security
00:52:56forces.
00:52:57They will bring them to their homes, they will return them to their homes and their
00:53:03families and we will be witnessing that first hug of the sons and daughters that never should
00:53:13have departed because they have always been here in our homeland.
00:53:18How many children are coming along?
00:53:23Twenty-one children travel by themselves, but the majority of them have their relatives
00:53:29who are waiting for them to receive them and to take them to their homes.
00:53:34Some of them send their children and they are finishing, they will be received by their
00:53:41parents or grandparents, families duly accredited.
00:53:47How many Venezuelans are left in Mexico?
00:53:50Well, there we opened in the embassy a space for the attention of all Venezuelans that
00:53:58they go there and register and so as far as we have Venezuelans there, we send the
00:54:10plane and we bring them back.
00:54:13Well, we can deal with the Mexican government because it's a respectable administration
00:54:21and so the Conviasa Air Police will go there and return the Venezuelans to their homeland.
00:54:32So, of these 311, there were, well, some, all of them are going to be interviewed.
00:54:44Some of them didn't make to arrive to the United States because the authorities didn't
00:54:51let them in and some paid them to the coyotes and the coyotes left them abandoned to their fate.
00:55:00Some even were kidnapped in the Darien Gap and they call their families here and that
00:55:07their families must have delivered some money to be able to send them.
00:55:15But thanks God and thanks to the Bolivarian revolution and thanks to the return to the
00:55:20homeland plan, they are here and for this special panel.
00:55:29So, Venezuela didn't want to compromise.
00:55:33The United States is really confused because the United States said that they will send
00:55:40us the Trenderagua gun and they haven't fulfilled it.
00:55:47When they are ready, we are just ready.
00:55:50But they have a problem there of information of what they brought because you know what,
00:55:57many of the ones kidnapped in El Salvador, they were deceived by telling them that they
00:56:04were coming to Venezuela and they were sent to El Salvador because they were allegedly
00:56:10accused of being of the Trenderagua.
00:56:12While they were respected, the Venezuelan government claimed that all belonged to the
00:56:18Trenderagua.
00:56:20It is not Venezuela acting like this because we won't accuse anyone without the duly
00:56:26crimes and if they are of the Trenderagua, why didn't they judge them there because
00:56:35they are kidnapping in El Salvador.
00:56:37If they committed a crime in the United States, they must be judged in the United States and
00:56:42they haven't committed any crimes in El Salvador and they are kidnapped there and that must
00:56:47be the news worldwide.
00:56:49The Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador.
00:56:52Anyone who treats them like this is seeing another movie because these partners who have
00:57:01been kidnapped in El Salvador by President Bukele have families here and have people
00:57:07who have been showing their solidarity with them, marching and signing to denounce to
00:57:13the world what is happening with Venezuelans, men and women, thanks to the application of
00:57:18the anachronical law of 1798.
00:57:28To them, you could say that someone, God is seeing them and they will bring to justice
00:57:36because that could not go unpunished against a crime against people.
00:57:43They promoted emigrations, they paid coyotes and they are sending them to prisons as a
00:57:52big part of business.
00:57:54The human trafficking, some of them, well the human trafficking is the most lucrative,
00:58:01is one of the third most lucrative business in the world with billions of dollars.
00:58:08How much money they will gain after having mistreated and taken to Venezuelans to the
00:58:14situation they are?
00:58:15Fortunately, they are coming back today and once get joy with the laughter of the children
00:58:23of coming back to their homeland, which will always receive them warmly with hugs.
00:58:30So, by coincidence, there is coming a girl that is a sister of the four brothers that
00:58:48were taken to El Salvador.
00:58:50Well, look at what are Venezuelans, the ones that were coming, no one asked for them.
00:58:59They asked for those Venezuelans who were kidnapped there in El Salvador, that the government
00:59:10mustn't leave them by themselves and we won't rest until we get them back because the return
00:59:20plan is active every day.
00:59:24So, when they want, we want, the important thing is not communications, the important
00:59:32thing is that Venezuelans return.
00:59:36We just want them to come back.
00:59:38Well, you said that on the last flight there were, well in this flight there isn't any
00:59:46people from Colombia, but we just received them as brothers because we don't persecute
00:59:55anyone here.
00:59:57They didn't have a crime in Venezuela and so we just delivered them to the Colombian
01:00:03authorities and they are right now with their families.
01:00:07So, there are guarantees for, well, you know that the kidnappers are the kidnappers.
01:00:15We have a group of attorneys there acting there in El Salvador and we hope that all
01:00:20this international pressure that are just denouncing the kidnapping of Venezuelans that
01:00:29are in the concentration camp in 2025 that works out and they deliver us the Venezuelans
01:00:36because all these Venezuelans didn't commit any crime in El Salvador.
01:00:41If anyone who have been, why if they committed a crime in the United States, why didn't
01:00:51they brought them to justice?
01:00:54It's a lie.
01:00:55So, they said that they were allegedly from the Trenderagua, but I can demonstrate you
01:01:02that they didn't belong, they don't belong to the Trenderagua.
01:01:08They don't have criminal records and so they are just on the order of the justice from
01:01:15all the groups coming from Mexico and all their flights.
01:01:18We don't have complicity with any groups, but we won't accept any mistreatment of Venezuelans
01:01:25and we will raise our voices ahead of anyone because Venezuela must be respected and not
01:01:30only respected because that's when the allegation is coming.
01:01:37Some sectors welcome those actions of the United States, but those are not Venezuelans
01:01:42because Venezuelans are being humiliated and those who don't feel sympathy of the pain
01:01:48of the families that are suffering for those of El Salvador, they are hardly Venezuelans
01:01:58because that abusive use of the force, we are just denouncing it in the world.
01:02:06The United Nations may do nothing, but the international community must know that Venezuelans
01:02:15are being kidnapped, are being persecuted in El Salvador and in the United States and
01:02:20demigration is not a crime.
01:02:22We were listening to Minister of Interior and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, who is at this
01:02:30moment at the international airport of Maiketilla in La Guaira state as Venezuela is witnessing
01:02:37the arrival of 306 Venezuelan migrants who are arriving from Mexico as part of the Back
01:02:42to the Homeland plan.
01:02:44In this context, the minister said that the government is going to take them personally
01:02:49to their homes and they are going to be witnessing this first hug among them and their families.
01:02:54This is all for the moment, but stay tuned with Telesur English for more updates on this
01:02:59event.