Monday's flights came days after the first flights of immigrants to a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala for those countries to take people who were not their citizens.
Two Venezuelan planes flew to the United States on Monday and returned home with deported Venezuelans, signaling a possible improvement in relations between longtime diplomatic adversaries and a victory for President Donald Trump in his efforts to get more countries to take their people back.
The Venezuelan government confirmed the flights in a statement that took issue with an “ill-intentioned” and “false” narrative around the presence of members of the Tren de Aragua gang in the United States.
“Flights of Illegal Aliens to Venezuela Resume,” the White House said in a post on the “X” platform, saying they were overseen by Richard Grennell, a top Trump adviser who recently traveled to Venezuela.
The U.S. and Venezuelan governments separately confirmed the flights by Venezuelan airline Conviasa without saying how many were aboard or disclosing their routes.
