Venezuela pledges to free those deported to El Salvador jail

Bloomberg News on Mar 17, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Venezuela will do “whatever it takes” to free hundreds of its citizens deported by the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez.

“We will resort to all countries and bilateral relations, legal strategies,” Rodríguez said in a press conference on Monday. “We will even talk to the devil so that Venezuelans are returned to their homes.”

President Donald Trump’s administration deported 238 Venezuelans over the weekend, accusing them of membership of the Tren de Aragua gang. The deportees face incarceration in El Salvador’s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center under a deal reached between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Nayib Bukele.

The U.S. hasn’t yet detailed how it identified the Venezuelans as members of the gang, which is designated a foreign terrorist organization.

The dispute threatens to complicate Venezuela’s attempts to get sanctions lifted in return for cooperating with Trump’s policy of mass deportations of migrants. The government of President Nicolás Maduro is particularly anxious that Washington continue to allow Chevron Corp to function in the country, since the oil major now supplies about 20% of Venezuela’s crude output, providing a large proportion of the economy’s hard currency.

In a three-minute video released by Bukele, the migrants are shown being dragged out of planes and later forced to kneel and shaved by security officials before being imprisoned.

“Why do they beat them? Why do they humiliate them? Why do they have to shave their heads?” Maduro said on state TV on Monday evening.

Maduro said that the government was recommending against travel to U.S. and called for marches to protest the migrants’ detentions on Tuesday.

Alien Enemies

On Saturday, Trump moved to accelerate deportations by invoking seldom-used powers under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute previously employed to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

The Trump administration insisted on Monday it had not defied a court, saying a judge’s order to halt the flight to El Salvador was issued after the migrants had already left U.S. territory. The White House said the president has a constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and to “repel a declared invasion.”

Rodríguez did not add details on a deal reached last week in which the U.S. would resume deportation flights to Venezuela. The flights had been initially halted after Trump’s decision to revoke Chevron’s license to operate in the country.

_____