Venezuela condemns El Salvador for “grave crimes against migrants,” citing human trafficking, xenophobia, and illegal deportations. Demands immediate release of 252 Venezuelans.  

Related:

HRW Reports Forced Disappearance of 238 Venezuelan Migrants: U.S. and El Salvador Under Scrutiny

Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry issued a forceful response to a diplomatic note from El Salvador, accusing the government of Nayib Bukele of committing “grave violations of international human rights law” and acts that could constitute “international criminal offenses” against 252 Venezuelan citizens deported from the United States and held in Salvadoran prisons.

Foreign Minister Yván Gil labeled the situation “grave crimes against migrants,” asserting that El Salvador’s communication amounts to an “express confession” of these acts.  

In an official statement, Venezuela Foreign Ministry detailed that the detainees have been deprived of liberty “without judicial order or prior trial” in a maximum-security facility, subjected to “degrading and inhumane conditions,” with no contact with families or lawyers, which would make them “victims of the severe crime of human trafficking.”

It also denounced “institutional xenophobia” for collectively linking migrants to criminal organizations “without individual evidence,” violating the principle of presumption of innocence.  

The text further rejected the “denial of the right to defense, due process, and access to justice,” arguing that the lack of information about charges and the inability to appear before courts equates these cases to “forced disappearance.”

Additionally, it branded as a “legal aberration” and “morally inadmissible” a proposal by El Salvador to condition the release of Venezuelans on an exchange for Salvadorans detained in Venezuela for “serious criminal acts,” stressing that this approach lacks legal basis.  

Venezuela also blamed the United States for the “kidnapping and forced transfer” of migrants to Salvadoran territory without legal processes, a practice that, according to Caracas, violates international law and has been condemned even by U.S. courts.  

The venezuelan government demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of the detainees and called for urgent answers to a questionnaire from Venezuela’s Public Ministry.

This includes requirements such as identifying the detained individuals, the crimes alleged, the status of their legal proceedings, and “internationally verifiable proof of life” for their families. Venezuela warned that it holds El Salvador responsible for any harm to the detainees’ “physical and psychological integrity” and urged an immediate resolution amid escalating bilateral tensions fueled by ideological differences.  

EN ESTA NOTA: