Venezuelans Forced Disappearance in El Salvador Denounced
By Human Rights Watch
HAVANA TIMES – The governments of the United States and El Salvador have subjected over 200 Venezuelans to forced disappearance and arbitrary detention, Human Rights Watch denounced on Friday, April 11.
“These enforced disappearances are a grave violation of international human rights law,” affirmed Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The cruelty of the US and Salvadoran governments has put these people outside the protection of the law and caused immense pain to their families.”
On March 15, 2025, The US government sent 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador where they were immediately taken to the “Cecot” [Center of Confinement for Terrorism], a mega-prison known for its abusive conditions.
Washington alleged that 137 of these Venezuelans were members of the Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang formed in Venezuela more than a decade ago, with a presence in several countries of the hemisphere. The other 101 were in the country illegally and had been recently detained.
This marked the debut of an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador to send detained immigrants that the United States wishes to expel to prisons in the latter country in exchange for payment, in this case six million dollars for the group of deportees. The Salvadoran ruler greeted this deal with enthusiasm.
“Since then, the Venezuelans have been held incommunicado,” Human Rights Watch reported. Further: “United States and Salvadoran authorities have not disclosed a list of the people removed, although CBS News published a leaked list of names.”
Relatives of people apparently transferred to El Salvador told Human Rights Watch that the Salvadoran officials have been completely unresponsive, while US authorities merely said they were unable to share any information on their relatives’ whereabouts.
As a first step, HRW stated, the US authorities must make public the identity of the Venezuelans who were transferred to El Salvador. At the same time, the Salvadoran government should confirm the specific location of those detained, disclose any legal basis for their detention, and allow them contact with the outside world.
Human Rights Watch has so far interviewed 40 relatives of people apparently removed to El Salvador. All of them said that US immigration authorities initially told their relatives in immigration detention that they would be sent back to Venezuela. None of the detainees were told that they would be sent to the Central American country.
On April 5, the organization also sent a letter to the Salvadoran authorities requesting information on the identities of those detained, the conditions of their detention in the Cecot mega prison, and the legal basis of their detention. The Salvadoran government has not responded.
Bukele’s government posted a video in which some of the faces of those detained and imprisoned in the Cecot appear. The prison has been the object of criticism on the part of international humanitarian organizations and human rights commissions from both the United Nations and the Inter-American system.
Despite these gestures, neither of the two governments have published a list of the people sent to be detained there, nor has there been any clarification of the legal basis – if one exists – to hold them there.
The Trump government has invoked the Alien Enemies Act – which HRW termed “an archaic law dating from 1978” – against the Tren de Aragua to justify the expulsion and imprisonment in El Salvador of those accused of belonging to the gang.
“However, the government hasn’t presented any evidence to establish a relation between the people deported and the Tren de Aragua,” HRW report indicated. It further noted that a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official has acknowledged that “many” of those deported to El Salvador “do not have criminal records in the United States.”
Additionally, “many of the relatives of people sent to El Salvador shared documents with Human Rights Watch researchers indicating that their loved ones had “no criminal records” in Venezuela or in other Latin America countries where they lived in recent years.”
Citing internal government documents and public registries, the CBS program “60 Minutes” revealed that at least 75% of the Venezuelans deported “have no registered criminal histories or charges.”
For their part, the Bloomberg news agency investigated official documents, according to which only 10 of those deported presented record of crimes such as assault with a firearm, human trafficking, or lesser criminal charges.
“For the rest of the men, there was no available information to demonstrate that they had committed any crime other than traffic offenses or immigration violations in the United States,” according to the agency.
The Salvadoran government hasn’t presented any legal basis for detaining the Venezuelan deportees and has offered no indication of when, if ever, they would be released.
“It appears that their detention is wholly arbitrary and potentially indefinite; a grave violation of El Salvador’s human rights obligations,” Human Rights Watch said.
Under international law, an enforced disappearance occurs when authorities deprive a person of their liberty and then refuse to disclose that person’s fate or whereabouts. This violation is especially serious because it places people outside the protection of the law, making further abuses likely.
Caracas has seen some street protests and a vigil outside the Salvadoran embassy, demanding information and freedom for the Venezuelans arbitrarily detained in the Cecot prison.
Juanita Goebertus stressed: “Nobody should be forced to piece together bits of information from the media or to read into the authorities’ silence to find out where their relatives are being held.”
“Salvadoran authorities should urgently disclose the names and locations of all detainees transferred from the US, and allow them to contact their families,” she concluded.
First published in Spanish by IPS News Service and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
In my opinion Human Rights Watch has a lot of credibility as it assesses Human Rights violations around the world. George can spout out the Trump line while knowing very little about the issues discussed in the article. I for one think Human Rights Watch has far more credibility than this George.
A few clarifications, illegal aliens who have entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. Anyone here as a guest or student who break our laws is subject to deportation. Those laws include falsifying documents, driving a car without a license, driving while intoxicated, assaulting your significant other or being a member of criminal organizations such as the gangs mentioned. It boils down to know the law and obey it or be deported. Venezuelans are deported to El Salvador because Venezuela refuses to accept their citizens back. Finally I would add that anything given to illegal aliens from the government is paid for by taxes paid by citizens such as myself. The sad reality is we are no longer able to continue paying for those programs. It doesn’t much matter what we wish we could do.
I continue to implore people to learn our language, know our laws and come prepared to support yourselves which will greatly improve your chances to avoid being turned away. We do not owe anyone, anything. President Trump was elected to do many things among them is to secure our borders and to remove everyone in our nation illegally with an initial focus on the criminals.
When someone writes derogatory articles that are filled with errors, that lack any sense of balance and flat out lies it may sell papers there but it does so at the expense of everyone trying to immigrant.