Q24N (EFE) Venezuela received a plane on Friday carrying 231 migrants deported by the United States, the first of the year and since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, amid a series of attacks in Caracas and three surrounding regions.
The Eastern Airlines aircraft landed at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, which serves Caracas, with 231 Venezuelans, according to the Chavista government.
The plane departed from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and this is the 99th repatriation flight, the vast majority from the United States, since January of last year, when Caracas and Washington signed a migration agreement.
Last year, the agreement remained in place even amid heightened political tensions following the US military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in August, and it resumed this Friday, nearly two weeks after the operation ordered by President Donald Trump on Venezuelan soil to capture Maduro.
The last flight was on December 10, when 218 migrants returned to Venezuela on a plane from the US.
The oil-rich nation is experiencing a period of uncertainty following the capture of Maduro and Flores, who are being held in New York.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez, far from intensifying the anti-imperialist rhetoric of Chavismo, has shown her willingness to work on a “cooperation agenda” with the United States. She spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday about a “bilateral work agenda” and “pending issues” between the two countries, which are considering restoring diplomatic relations, severed in 2019.
In any case, the Chavista government insists that these overtures to the White House are aimed at “defending the peace of Venezuela” and ensuring the “safety and security” of Maduro and Flores.