Venezuela reported kidnapping of migrants in El Salvador to the UN

Published at: 18/03/2025 06:38 PM

Ambassador Alexander Yánez, permanent representative of Venezuela to UN Geneva, denounced “vigorously and with indignation the kidnapping of Venezuelan migrants in the United States (USA), based on the anachronistic Foreign Enemies Act of 1798.”

This Tuesday, during a session of the Human Rights Council (DDHH), the Venezuelan diplomat rejected the fact that last Sunday 200 Venezuelans were “arbitrarily detained, subjected to cruel treatment” by the US Government, and then “locked up in concentration camps in El Salvador”.

In that regard, he assured that the reason for this arrest is nationality, since there is “no evidence of having committed any crime in the United States and least of all in El Salvador.”

The Ambassador explained that the Foreign Enemies Act of 1798 allows 14-year-old children, with Venezuelan nationality, to be “susceptible to being arrested and sent to third countries without judicial process or any guarantee to their human rights. They can be separated from their parents despite their status as minors.”

“We ask ourselves: What has the Human Rights System said about this monstrosity that recalls Nazi methods against the Jewish people sent on trains to ghettos or to death? Does the government of El Salvador intend to be the Abu Ghraib of our region?” , he said.

He also questioned the “High Commissioner of Human Rights”, IOM, rapporteurs and independent experts who are always so active when it comes to Venezuela. Are you going to say anything about this atrocity?”

Finally, on behalf of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, the diplomat reiterated the State's commitment to return its migrants “back to the Homeland and to their families: We will not abandon them”.

MPPRE