Latest news with #Maracaibo
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
‘Welcome to hell': Freed migrants tell of horrors in Salvadoran jail
MARACAIBO, July 28 — Mervin Yamarte left Venezuela with his younger brother, hoping for a better life. But after a perilous jungle march, US detention, and long months in a Salvadoran jail surviving riots, beatings and fear, he has returned home a wounded and changed man. On entering the sweltering Caribbean port of Maracaibo, the first thing Yamarte did after hugging his mother and six-year-old daughter was to burn the baggy white prison shorts he wore during four months of 'hell.' 'The suffering is over now,' said the 29-year-old, enjoying a longed-for moment of catharsis. Yamarte was one of 252 Venezuelans detained in US President Donald Trump's March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Centre, known as CECOT. Yarelis Herrera awaits the arrival of her son, Edwuar Hernandez, who was repatriated from a jail in El Salvador, at their home in Maracaibo, Venezuela, July 22, 2025. — AFP pic According to four ex-detainees interviewed by AFP, the months were marked by abuse, violence, spoiled food and legal limbo. 'You are going to die here!' heavily armed guards taunted them on arrival to the maximum security facility east of the capital San Salvador. 'Welcome to hell!' The men had their heads shaved and were issued with prison clothes: a T-shirt, shorts, socks, and white plastic clogs. Yamarte said a small tuft of hair was left at the nape of his neck, which the guards tugged at. The Venezuelans were held separately from the local prison population in 'Pavilion 8' — a building with 32 cells, each measuring about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet). Each cell — roughly the size of an average two-bedroom apartment — was designed to hold 80 prisoners. Mervin Yamarte, a Venezuelan migrant repatriated from a prison in El Salvador, is welcomed by his mother, Mercedes Yamarte, upon arrival at his home in Maracaibo, Venezuela, July 22, 2025. — AFP pic 'Carried out unconscious' Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele built the prison to house the country's most dangerous gang members in deliberately brutal conditions, drawing constant criticism from rights groups. Trump's administration paid Bukele $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars. AFP has unsuccessfully requested a tour of the facility and interviews with CECOT authorities. Another prisoner, 37-year-old Maikel Olivera, recounted there were 'beatings 24 hours a day' and sadistic guards who warned, 'You are going to rot here, you're going to be in jail for 300 years.' 'I thought I would never return to Venezuela,' he said. For four months, the prisoners had no access to the internet, phone calls, visits from loved ones, or even lawyers. At least one said he was sexually abused. The men said they slept mostly on metal cots, with no mattresses to provide comfort. A tattoo on the arm of Mervin Yamarte, a Venezuelan migrant repatriated from a prison in El Salvador, is pictured during an interview with AFP at Los Pescadores neighbourhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, July 23, 2025. — AFP pic There were several small, poorly-ventilated cells where prisoners would be locked up for 24 hours at a time for transgressions — real or imagined. 'There were fellow detainees who couldn't endure even two hours and were carried out unconscious,' Yamarte recounted. The men never saw sunlight and were allowed one shower a day at 4:00 am. If they showered out of turn, they were beaten. Andy Perozo, 30, told AFP of guards firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the cells. For a week after one of two riots that were brutally suppressed, 'they shot me every morning. It was hell for me. Every time I went to the doctor, they beat me,' he said. Edwuar Hernandez, 23, also told of being beaten at the infirmary. 'They would kick you... kicks everywhere,' he said. 'Look at the marks; I have marks, I'm all marked.' The detainees killed time playing games with dice made from bits of tortilla dough. They counted the passing days with notches on a bar of soap. Mervin Yamarte, a Venezuelan migrant repatriated from a prison in El Salvador, cries during a Christian evangelical service in Los Pescadores neighbourhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, July 23, 2025. — AFP pic 'Out of hell' An estimated eight million Venezuelans have fled the political and economic chaos of their homeland to try to find a job in the United States that would allow them to send money home. Yamarte left in September 2023, making the weeks-long journey on foot through the Darien Gap that separates Colombia from Panama. It is unforgiving terrain that has claimed the lives of countless migrants who must brave predatory criminal gangs and wild animals. Yamarte was arrested in Dallas in March and deported three days later, without a court hearing. All 252 detainees were suddenly, and unexpectedly, freed on July 18 in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. Now, many are contemplating legal action. Many of the men believe they were arrested in the United States simply for sporting tattoos wrongly interpreted as proof of association with the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Yamarte has one that reads: 'Strong like Mom.' 'I am clean. I can prove it to anyone,' he said indignantly, hurt at being falsely accused of being a criminal. 'We went... to seek a better future for our families; we didn't go there to steal or kill.' (From left) Mervin Yamarte, Ringo Rincon and Edwuar Hernandez, Venezuelan migrants repatriated from a prison in El Salvador, attend a Christian evangelicals service in Los Pescadores neighbourhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, July 23, 2025. — AFP pic Yamarte, Perozo, and Hernandez are from the same poor neighborhood of Maracaibo, where their loved ones decorated homes with balloons and banners once news broke of their release. Yamarte's mom, 46-year-old Mercedes, had prepared a special lunch of steak, mashed potatoes, and fried green plantain. At her house on Tuesday, the phone rang shortly after Yamarte's arrival. It was his brother Juan, who works in the United States without papers and moves from place to place to evade Trump's migrant dragnet. Juan told AFP he just wants to stay long enough to earn the $1,700 he needs to pay off the house he had bought for his wife and child in Venezuela. 'Every day we thought of you, every day,' Juan told his brother. 'I always had you in my mind, always, always.' 'The suffering is over now,' replied Mervin. 'We've come out of hell.' — AFP
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
'Welcome to hell': Freed migrants tell of horrors in Salvadoran jail
Mervin Yamarte left Venezuela with his younger brother, hoping for a better life. But after a perilous jungle march, US detention, and long months in a Salvadoran jail surviving riots, beatings and fear, he has returned home a wounded and changed man. On entering the sweltering Caribbean port of Maracaibo, the first thing Yamarte did after hugging his mother and six-year-old daughter was to burn the baggy white prison shorts he wore during four months of "hell." "The suffering is over now," said the 29-year-old, enjoying a longed-for moment of catharsis. Yamarte was one of 252 Venezuelans detained in US President Donald Trump's March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. According to four ex-detainees interviewed by AFP, the months were marked by abuse, violence, spoiled food and legal limbo. "You are going to die here!" heavily armed guards taunted them on arrival to the maximum security facility east of the capital San Salvador. "Welcome to hell!" The men had their heads shaved and were issued with prison clothes: a T-shirt, shorts, socks, and white plastic clogs. Yamarte said a small tuft of hair was left at the nape of his neck, which the guards tugged at. The Venezuelans were held separately from the local prison population in "Pavilion 8" -- a building with 32 cells, each measuring about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet). Each cell -- roughly the size of an average two-bedroom apartment -- was designed to hold 80 prisoners. - 'Carried out unconscious' - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele built the prison to house the country's most dangerous gang members in deliberately brutal conditions, drawing constant criticism from rights groups. Trump's administration paid Bukele $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars. AFP has unsuccessfully requested a tour of the facility and interviews with CECOT authorities. Another prisoner, 37-year-old Maikel Olivera, recounted there were "beatings 24 hours a day" and sadistic guards who warned, "You are going to rot here, you're going to be in jail for 300 years." "I thought I would never return to Venezuela," he said. For four months, the prisoners had no access to the internet, phone calls, visits from loved ones, or even lawyers. At least one said he was sexually abused. The men said they slept mostly on metal cots, with no mattresses to provide comfort. There were several small, poorly-ventilated cells where prisoners would be locked up for 24 hours at a time for transgressions -- real or imagined. "There were fellow detainees who couldn't endure even two hours and were carried out unconscious," Yamarte recounted. The men never saw sunlight and were allowed one shower a day at 4:00 am. If they showered out of turn, they were beaten. Andy Perozo, 30, told AFP of guards firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the cells. For a week after one of two riots that were brutally suppressed, "they shot me every morning. It was hell for me. Every time I went to the doctor, they beat me," he said. Edwuar Hernandez, 23, also told of being beaten at the infirmary. "They would kick you... kicks everywhere," he said. "Look at the marks; I have marks, I'm all marked." The detainees killed time playing games with dice made from bits of tortilla dough. They counted the passing days with notches on a bar of soap. - 'Out of hell' - An estimated eight million Venezuelans have fled the political and economic chaos of their homeland to try to find a job in the United States that would allow them to send money home. Yamarte left in September 2023, making the weeks-long journey on foot through the Darien Gap that separates Colombia from Panama. It is unforgiving terrain that has claimed the lives of countless migrants who must brave predatory criminal gangs and wild animals. Yamarte was arrested in Dallas in March and deported three days later, without a court hearing. All 252 detainees were suddenly, and unexpectedly, freed on July 18 in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. Now, many are contemplating legal action. Many of the men believe they were arrested in the United States simply for sporting tattoos wrongly interpreted as proof of association with the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Yamarte has one that reads: "Strong like Mom." "I am clean. I can prove it to anyone," he said indignantly, hurt at being falsely accused of being a criminal. "We went... to seek a better future for our families; we didn't go there to steal or kill." Yamarte, Perozo, and Hernandez are from the same poor neighborhood of Maracaibo, where their loved ones decorated homes with balloons and banners once news broke of their release. Yamarte's mom, 46-year-old Mercedes, had prepared a special lunch of steak, mashed potatoes, and fried green plantain. At her house on Tuesday, the phone rang shortly after Yamarte's arrival. It was his brother Juan, who works in the United States without papers and moves from place to place to evade Trump's migrant dragnet. Juan told AFP he just wants to stay long enough to earn the $1,700 he needs to pay off the house he had bought for his wife and child in Venezuela. "Every day we thought of you, every day," Juan told his brother. "I always had you in my mind, always, always." "The suffering is over now," replied Mervin. "We've come out of hell."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Welcome to hell': Freed migrants tell of horrors in Salvadoran jail
Mervin Yamarte left Venezuela with his younger brother, hoping for a better life. But after a perilous jungle march, US detention, and long months in a Salvadoran jail surviving riots, beatings and fear, he has returned home a wounded and changed man. On entering the sweltering Caribbean port of Maracaibo, the first thing Yamarte did after hugging his mother and six-year-old daughter was to burn the baggy white prison shorts he wore during four months of "hell." "The suffering is over now," said the 29-year-old, enjoying a longed-for moment of catharsis. Yamarte was one of 252 Venezuelans detained in US President Donald Trump's March immigration crackdown, accused without evidence of gang activity, and deported to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. According to four ex-detainees interviewed by AFP, the months were marked by abuse, violence, spoiled food and legal limbo. "You are going to die here!" heavily armed guards taunted them on arrival to the maximum security facility east of the capital San Salvador. "Welcome to hell!" The men had their heads shaved and were issued with prison clothes: a T-shirt, shorts, socks, and white plastic clogs. Yamarte said a small tuft of hair was left at the nape of his neck, which the guards tugged at. The Venezuelans were held separately from the local prison population in "Pavilion 8" -- a building with 32 cells, each measuring about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet). Each cell -- roughly the size of an average two-bedroom apartment -- was designed to hold 80 prisoners. - 'Carried out unconscious' - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele built the prison to house the country's most dangerous gang members in deliberately brutal conditions, drawing constant criticism from rights groups. Trump's administration paid Bukele $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars. AFP has unsuccessfully requested a tour of the facility and interviews with CECOT authorities. Another prisoner, 37-year-old Maikel Olivera, recounted there were "beatings 24 hours a day" and sadistic guards who warned, "You are going to rot here, you're going to be in jail for 300 years." "I thought I would never return to Venezuela," he said. For four months, the prisoners had no access to the internet, phone calls, visits from loved ones, or even lawyers. At least one said he was sexually abused. The men said they slept mostly on metal cots, with no mattresses to provide comfort. There were several small, poorly-ventilated cells where prisoners would be locked up for 24 hours at a time for transgressions -- real or imagined. "There were fellow detainees who couldn't endure even two hours and were carried out unconscious," Yamarte recounted. The men never saw sunlight and were allowed one shower a day at 4:00 am. If they showered out of turn, they were beaten. Andy Perozo, 30, told AFP of guards firing rubber bullets and tear gas into the cells. For a week after one of two riots that were brutally suppressed, "they shot me every morning. It was hell for me. Every time I went to the doctor, they beat me," he said. Edwuar Hernandez, 23, also told of being beaten at the infirmary. "They would kick you... kicks everywhere," he said. "Look at the marks; I have marks, I'm all marked." The detainees killed time playing games with dice made from bits of tortilla dough. They counted the passing days with notches on a bar of soap. - 'Out of hell' - An estimated eight million Venezuelans have fled the political and economic chaos of their homeland to try to find a job in the United States that would allow them to send money home. Yamarte left in September 2023, making the weeks-long journey on foot through the Darien Gap that separates Colombia from Panama. It is unforgiving terrain that has claimed the lives of countless migrants who must brave predatory criminal gangs and wild animals. Yamarte was arrested in Dallas in March and deported three days later, without a court hearing. All 252 detainees were suddenly, and unexpectedly, freed on July 18 in a prisoner exchange deal between Caracas and Washington. Now, many are contemplating legal action. Many of the men believe they were arrested in the United States simply for sporting tattoos wrongly interpreted as proof of association with the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Yamarte has one that reads: "Strong like Mom." "I am clean. I can prove it to anyone," he said indignantly, hurt at being falsely accused of being a criminal. "We went... to seek a better future for our families; we didn't go there to steal or kill." Yamarte, Perozo, and Hernandez are from the same poor neighborhood of Maracaibo, where their loved ones decorated homes with balloons and banners once news broke of their release. Yamarte's mom, 46-year-old Mercedes, had prepared a special lunch of steak, mashed potatoes, and fried green plantain. At her house on Tuesday, the phone rang shortly after Yamarte's arrival. It was his brother Juan, who works in the United States without papers and moves from place to place to evade Trump's migrant dragnet. Juan told AFP he just wants to stay long enough to earn the $1,700 he needs to pay off the house he had bought for his wife and child in Venezuela. "Every day we thought of you, every day," Juan told his brother. "I always had you in my mind, always, always." "The suffering is over now," replied Mervin. "We've come out of hell." mbj-mav-jt/mlr/arb/sst
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Venezuelan Little League team denied travel visas to U.S. for World Series
A Little League team from Venezuela was denied entry into the United States for the Senior League Baseball World Series, according to Little League International. The Cacique Mara Little League team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was 'unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas,' Little League International said in a statement, adding that the decision was 'extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.'
ABC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Junior Venezuelan baseball team denied entry into US to compete in World Series tournament
A Venezuelan junior baseball team was denied visas into the United States and will miss this year's Senior Baseball World Series, Little League International confirmed on Saturday morning (AEST). The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo in Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico. "The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series," Little League International said in a statement, adding that it was "extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes". The Venezuelan team travelled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for their visas at the US embassy in Bogotá. The embassy did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment. "It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfil their dreams of participating in a world championship," the team said in a statement. "What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?" Venezuela is among a list of countries with restrictions for entering the US or its territories. President Donald Trump has banned travel to the US from 12 other countries, citing national security concerns. Earlier in the month, the Cuban women's volleyball team was denied visas to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico, while a high-profile Mexican boxer was arrested by ICE and deported. "They told us that Venezuela is on a list because Trump says Venezuelans are a threat to the security of his state, of his country," said Kendrick Gutiérrez, the league's president in Venezuela. "It hasn't been easy, the situation; we earned the right to represent Latin America in the World Championship." The Senior League Baseball World Series, a tournament for players aged 13-16, is played each year in Easley, South Carolina. It begins Saturday night (AEST). The tournament organisers replaced the Venezuelans with the Santa Maria de Aguayo team from Tamaulipas, Mexico, the team that was a runner-up in the Latin American championship. "I think this is the first time this has happened, but it shouldn't end this way. They're going to replace us with another team because relations have been severed; it's not fair," Gutiérrez added. "I don't understand why they put Mexico in at the last minute and left Venezuela out." Concerns are rising about how the US will treat visiting countries for the 2025 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. AP
