The U.S. Security Secretary Toured a Salvadoran Prison as if She Were in a Zoo: Cabello
Kristi Noem at a Salvadoran prison, March 26, 2025. X/ @enmayuscula507
March 27, 2025 Hour: 8:16 am
The Bolivarian interior minister denounced the Salvadoran government’s kidnapping of Venezuelan migrants.
On Wednesday, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello criticized the visit of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to the maximum-security Salvadoran prison where 238 Venezuelan migrants deported by Washington are being held.
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“Today a U.S. official went to El Salvador. She toured the prison as if she were visiting a zoo,” he said, calling for respect for the human rights of the Venezuelans detained at the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).
Accused of allegedly belonging to the Aragua Train gang, those migrants were sent to that maximum-security facility by President Donald Trump, using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and disregarding a court order that prohibited it.
The Bolivarian interior minister once again denounced that the “fascist regime” of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the Venezuelan migrants kidnapped in a concentration camp.
“This is human trafficking. They are being sold as if they were slaves because Bukele receives money for each of them, and in addition to that, he forces them to do hard labor in El Salvador,” Cabello added.
The CECOT is a mega-prison symbolizing the so-called war against gangs that the Bukele administration is carrying out under a state of emergency.
So far, the Salvadoran government has not explained under what legal framework the Venezuelan migrants have been incarcerated in CECOT, given that the Legislative Assembly has not approved any agreement allowing it, and they do not have arrest warrants or pending criminal proceedings in the Central American country.
During her visit to CECOT, Noem thanked Bukele for his partnership with the United States in “receiving terrorists and imprisoning them, thus showing them the consequences of the violence they have perpetrated in the North American nation.”
Venezuela denounces the violation of due process in these cases and insists that it will not rest until it rescues its nationals, while it has carried out numerous activities in support of this group of migrants, such as demonstrations and the collection of signatures.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Cabello also confirmed that Venezuela will continue implementing the “Return to the Homeland” plan that President Nicolas Maduro created to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of his compatriots.
“Since 2018, over a million migrants -who left deceived, manipulated, or in search of the American dream but found the harsh reality of nightmares- have returned home like prodigal children,” Cabello recalled.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – VTV
