It is promise fulfilled as Venezuela on Monday sent two planes to bring undocumented migrants back from the United States, days after it came to an agreement with the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Recall that immediately Trump made his order to flush out irregular migrants, Venezuela promised to provide planes for it’s citizens.
The planes were on their way home, a foreign ministry statement said, after President Nicolas Maduro — keen for an end to crippling US sanctions — agreed with a visiting Trump envoy to accept the return of deported migrants and offered to provide the transport.
The government had been notified by the United States, the statement added, that some of the deportees were suspected of having ties to the Tren de Aragua gang or other criminal groups.
It did not specify how many Venezuelans were being brought home.
The day after Maduro met US envoy Richard Grenell in Caracas on January 31, Trump announced the South American country “has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the US, including gang members of Tren de Aragua.”
“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Grenell had traveled to Caracas despite Washington having not recognized Maduro’s reelection in a vote last year he is widely accused of stealing.
The envoy returned home with six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela.
It was not clear what Caracas had gained from the talks, after which Maduro called for a “new beginning” in bilateral relations.
Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history, vowing to expel millions of undocumented immigrants, many from Latin American nations.