Guantánamo migrants deported to Venezuela
Feb. 21, 2025
The U.S. government flew 177 deportees from Guantánamo Bay to Honduras. They are set to be transferred to Venezuela from there. The move apparently emptied the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo of migrant detainees, days after human rights lawyers filed a lawsuit seeking access to dozens of people who had been held there.
According to U.S. authorities, the deportees included 126 people with criminal charges or convictions, 80 of whom were allegedly affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. The remaining 51 had no criminal record, reports the Guardian.
It was unclear whether the Trump administration plans to continue using Guantánamo as a migrant detention center, reports the New York Times. An official said in a court filing yesterday that the U.S. immigration agency intended to use Guantánamo “as a temporary staging facility for aliens being repatriated” and said they would be held there for “the time necessary to effect the removal orders.”
The deportation to Venezuela takes place under the aegis of a new deal between Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the Trump administration. Maduro said the handover was at the "direct request" of his government to that of Trump, reports AFP. "We have rescued 177 new migrants from Guantanamo," he said at an official event.
More Migration
The U.S. has deported more than 400 migrants from around the world to Costa Rica and Panama, which have agreed to serve as “bridge” countries until they can be sent on to their countries of origin, which include Afghanistan, Iran and Russia. “The question, from many immigration lawyers and human rights advocates, is how long the migrants will stay — and under what conditions,” reports the Washington Post.
The Trump administration cut protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the United States that held Temporary Protected Status, putting them on track to be targeted for deportation by August, reports the New York Times.
The decision reverses an extension granted by the Biden administration that extended protections until 2026. (Reuters)
Mexico
Analysts have lauded Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s handling of the new U.S. government — she has made concessions to U.S. President Donald Trump, but has avoided confrontation and has approval ratings in Mexico that touch 80%. (Guardian)
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei’s electoral reform bill passed in Senate yesterday, eliminating obligatory primaries that served as an unofficial first round in elections. The victory shores Milei up in the midst of a cryptocurrency scandal, reports the Financial Times.
In the same session, Senators rejected creating a commission that would investigate Milei’s role in the apparent $LIBRA crypto scam. (Página 12)
Milei is in Washington DC, where he met with the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and gifted a chainsaw to his "friend" Elon Musk, “with whom he shares a passion for public spending cuts,” reports the Buenos Aires Times.
In The Ideas Letter, Mario Santucho explores what Argentina’s leftist revolutionary history means today, and how conceptions of victimhood and heroism condition our political horizons.
Also in The Ideas Letter, I explore Peronism’s crisis, and why its history of adaption means it could still be poised to champion social justice in Argentina.
Regional
Trump’s six-month suspension of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the nation’s foreign bribery law, will have immediate impact in Latin America. “Many see the FCPA as crucial in influencing anti-corruption enforcement trends and corporate compliance practices across Latin America. Halting FCPA enforcement now could have a disproportionate impact, increasing the risk of bribery in regional businesses,” argues Matteson Ellis in Americas Quarterly.
Caribbean leaders at the CARICOM meeting defended the region’s pursuit of slavery reparations, describing the compensation for centuries of enslavement and oppression as a matter of simple justice, reports the Guardian.
Colombia
The Shadow of El Dorado, a new InSight Crime investigative podcast delves into the underworld of Colombian blood gold: “a labyrinth of power, corruption, and lies in a world where it is not only warlords and gangsters, but also presidents and billionaires who stop at nothing in their quest to control the world’s most cursed mineral. And where the line between legal and illegal begins to break down.”
Ecuador
“Ecuador’s electorate will go to a runoff vote in April in a highly polarized climate. At stake is a broader political struggle between authoritarianism and democracy,” writes Jorge Nuñez in Nacla.
High turnout in Ecuador’s presidential election, over 80 percent is a good indication that citizens have faith in political solutions to their crisis — “But should this electoral process frustrate an already impatient public, many might “vote with their feet,” exacerbating Ecuador’s already-high levels of irregular migration,” writes Michael J. Fitzpatrick in the Wilson Center’s Weekly Asado.
Critter Corner
An elusive oarfish, a creature nicknamed the “doomsday fish,” was captured on video this month after it was seen in shallow water in Baja California Sur, along Mexico’s Pacific Coast — New York Times