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The first flight with a large number of Venezuelans deported from the United States landed at Maiquetía International Airport, near Caracas, on Wednesday afternoon, October 18, 2023.

These types of flights have been suspended since 2019. The announcement of the resumption was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 5.

The government body said the decision came after a “high-level discussion” in Mexico City between the governments of the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Panama on how to tackle “irregular migration” in the region, EFE reported. the time.

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First flight and clear warning

On October 18, television footage showed the first deported Venezuelans boarding the plane. The known number of returnees varied between 127 and 135.

In Texas, Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens told Noticias Telemundo that what happened to these migrants was a message.

“The flight we have back now is the first flight to Venezuela. “It doesn’t matter what country you come from, if you come illegally, you will receive a ticket and a flight to your country,” Owens stated in perfect and clear Spanish.

For Enrique Pinto, the flight is “very sad news, because many of those people sold everything in Venezuela to come here to the United States.”

The US Department of Homeland Security said this first repatriation was completed with the support of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection Office, EFE indicated.

It attracted attention that they boarded the plane with their hands cuffed. This detail contrasted with the images broadcast by the Venezuelan state broadcaster of the landing at Simón Bolívar airport in Maiquetía: people came down the stairs of the plane without handcuffs.

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The flights will be “weekly”.

The plane carrying the migrants landed in Maiquetía on Wednesday, October 18, around 4:30 p.m. One of those present at the circuit was the Minister of the Interior, Remigio Ceballos Ichaso.

A few minutes later, President Nicolás Maduro referred to this repatriation flight in the presidential palace of Miraflores. “The first flight has arrived, and it will be weekly,” the president emphasized, EFE reported.

According to Maduro, “many” of the returning Venezuelans have been “detained for two or three months” in the United States and will now undergo a “psychosocial check so that they can reintegrate” into the country.

In the United States, the press noted, arrests of migrants at the southern border continue to increase.

Until August, 31,463 Venezuelan migrants were apprehended and in the past 12 months the number was 199,511, says Francisco Cuevas in his report for Noticias Telemundo.

(JO)