Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures as he leaves the Capitolio — home of the National Assembly — after taking the oath during the presidential inauguration in Caracas on Jan.10, 2025. (Juan Barreto, AFP, Getty Images via TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — The Nicolás Maduro regime has agreed to resume flights transporting Venezuelans deported from the United States back to their home country, U.S. diplomat Richard Grenell said.
Maduro had recently admitted that the flights had been “impacted” by the Trump administration’s decision to revoke a special license allowing Chevron to produce and sell oil out of Venezuela despite the sanctions imposed on the regime.
Serving as Trump’s envoy for special missions, Grenell had met with Maduro in Caracas on Jan. 31, securing the release of six Americans who Washington believes had been imprisoned unjustly by Maduro and also Caracas’ acceptance of the flights.
“I am pleased to announce that Venezuela has agreed to resume flights to pick up their citizens who broke U.S. Immigration Laws and entered the U.S. illegally,” Grenell, who has since been appointed interim executive director of the Kennedy Center, said on his X account. “The flights will resume Friday.”
The Trump administration has not yet provided further details.
Little more than 600 Venezuelan migrants had been taken back to Venezuela on the flights before Trump’s decision to revoke the Chevron license soured the fragile improvement of the thorny relations between both countries.
While portrayed by the Trump administration as hardened criminals, the Venezuelans deported from the United States were welcomed back with open arms as prodigal sons and daughters — ironically, by the man in charge of the repressive apparatus that initially forced many of them to flee.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello welcomed the hundreds of migrants arriving from the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and on deportation flights from Texas, reiterating on state television that the Venezuelans have been falsely labeled as dangerous criminals and members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
After officials confirmed that the migrants are not wanted criminals, most have been allowed to reunite with their families.
“They were taken to Guantanamo without having committed any type of legal infraction,” Cabello told reporters at the airport while receiving a group of 177 Venezuelans the U.S. had originally sent to the Navy base in Cuba. “All of them will have a second chance to rebuild their lives here.”
McClatchy reporter David Catanese contributed to this story from Washington.
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