MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro agrees to Trump’s repatriation flights for deported Venezuelans

In a televised speech, Maduro also addressed Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, telling him “you're responsible.”

Venezuela has agreed with the US Trump administration to resume repatriation flights for deported Venezuelan nationals, officials announced confirming first flights on Sunday. Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela's National Assembly President said the goal was to “ensure the return of our countrymen with the protection of their human rights.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had suspended the flights on March 8 after President Trump accused Venezuela of failing to meet its commitments. But in response the Maduro regime refused to accept further flights. The situation escalated when the US government moved against US energy giant Chevron, suspending its license to export Venezuelan oil.

Caracas and Washington have clashed over the US deporting more than 200 Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador, with Venezuela slamming the move as “kidnapping.”

Washington claims the deportees belong to the Tren de Aragua gang — designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department.

In a televised speech, Maduro also addressed Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, telling him “you're responsible.”

“You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over,” Maduro told Bukele.

Maduro maintained that the migrants hadn't committed crimes in the US or El Salvador.

Families of the deportees protested in Venezuela, accusing the US of tricking the migrants into believing they were returning home after days or weeks in detention.

More than seven million Venezuelans have left their home country following an economic collapse in the past decade, including opponents of the Maduro government.

From Washington Trump administration officials on Sunday defended the use of extraordinary war powers to force through the deportations.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Trump administration's decision to deport 137 Venezuelan migrants last weekend to El Salvador was justified since they posed a safety risk.

“It is modern-day warfare, and we are going to continue to fight that and protect American citizens every single step of the way,” Bondi told the broadcaster Fox.

White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told the media outlet CBS that Tren de Aragua was operating as a proxy of the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“The alien sedition act fully applies because we have also determined that this group is acting as a proxy of the Maduro regime,” Waltz said. “Maduro is deliberately emptying his prisons in a proxy manner to influence an attack on the United States.”