Venezuela's Marxist government has agreed to begin accepting deportation flights from America again after being stopped by the country's dictator, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this month over a repeal of a Biden policy on Venezuela's oil exports.
"We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday," Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela's Assembly and chief negotiator with the U.S., said.
The New York Times and Maduro agree that the reason Venezuela is allowing the deportation flights to continue is because the U.S. is sending some Venezuelans to El Salvador and its notorious prisons.
"Part of Venezuela’s willingness to accept the flights appeared related to the plight of Venezuelan migrants whom the Trump administration recently sent to notorious prisons in El Salvador with little to no due process," reports the Times.
These Venezuelans were not part of the CHNV Biden-era parole program that allowed more than half a million citizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela into the United States legally. These were illegal aliens picked up at the U.S. border. Many of these deportees were known members of the Tren de Aragua gang, although some weren't.
Maduro got all bent out of shape because Venezuelans were being mistreated in El Salvador prisons. He referred to the prisoners sent to El Salvador as being "kidnapped."
Assembly president Rodriguez said "that the deal with the U.S. secured the "return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights."
"Migrating is not a crime and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who require it and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador," Rodríguez said in a statement.
Who's going to rescue the Venezuelans in their own prisons?
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a human rights advocacy group headquartered in Washington, has been highlighting the human rights abuses of political prisoners in Venezuelan prisons.
WOLA sent an open letter to the head of the prison system in Venezuela.
Firstly, it should be noted that numerous organizations that protect, monitor, and defend human rights have repeatedly denounced the situation of systematic and widespread human rights violations committed in Venezuela against those who are considered dissidents of the government. This policy of repression includes crimes under international law that would constitute crimes against humanity. Thus, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into crimes against humanity in Venezuela, specifically on the alleged crimes against humanity of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, gender-based violence and persecution.
Just as the international community and civil society have denounced the policy of repression implemented by the Venezuelan authorities, they have also denounced the alarming conditions of detention in prisons and unauthorized detention centers in the country Although Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Venezuelan State is party, dictates that: ” All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,” we have documented how the reality in Venezuelan prisons is far from fulfilling this obligation.
"According to the information we have received, the detention conditions in ‘Rodeo I’ are cruel, inhuman and degrading, and in some cases, could amount to torture," the letter continued. Pot, meet kettle.
The Times just can't help itself sometimes.
The use of the wartime authority has emerged as a flashpoint in a broader struggle between federal judges across the country, who have sought to curb many of Mr. Trump’s recent executive actions, and an administration that has come close to openly refusing to comply with judicial orders.
I've seen a lot of attempts over the years by the New York Times to place a thumb on the scale when reporting their perspective of the "news." But how can the Trump administration "come close to openly refusing" to comply with the courts? They are either in compliance or they're not. Coming close only counts in tiddlywinks, horseshoes, and nuclear bombs and not in any "journalism," of which I am aware.
I can see the editor wrestling with this statement. "Well, we can't say that Trump is defying the courts. How about if we say he's coming close?"
Sheesh.
