CAPACHO, Venezuela (Reuters) -A makeup artist who became the face of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. to El Salvador’s most notorious prison arrived home to his family on Wednesday after what he described as “an encounter with torture and death.”
Andry Hernandez, 32, and the other detainees returned to Venezuela on Friday as part of a prisoner exchange, after spending four months in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, where they and the Venezuelan government allege they were beaten, shot with rubber projectiles, held in dark cells, and served rotten food.
“Many of our fellows have wounds from the nightsticks; they have fractured ribs, fractured fingers and toes, marks from the handcuffs, others have marks on their chests, on their face … from the projectiles,” Hernandez told journalists at his home in Capacho, near the Colombian border.
U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport the men, who his government accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, without normal immigration procedures.
The deportations sparked a legal battle led by civil rights groups. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties.
Hernandez, detained at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, had an active asylum case when he was deported to CECOT. His case was widely covered in the media.
Advocates in the U.S. have voiced concerns that Hernandez, who is gay, faces risks in Venezuela due to LGBTQ persecution.
The U.S. alleged Tren de Aragua membership based on his tattoos: crowns on his wrists that read “mom” and “dad.”
Hernandez denied the allegation.
In a video broadcast on state television on Monday, Hernandez alleged sexual abuse by the guards at CECOT, and Venezuela’s attorney general has said his office will investigate El Salvador President Nayib Bukele over alleged abuses.
Bukele’s office has not responded to requests for comment on the alleged torture.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson has referred allegations of mistreatment to El Salvador’s government, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dismissed the allegations of abuse on Tuesday, calling the men “criminal, illegal gang members.”
Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the abuse allegations.
Hernandez’s parents, Felipe Hernandez and Alexi Romero, have been anxiously awaiting his return since Tuesday, when he called to say he was on the way from Caracas, some 820 kilometers (510 miles) away.
Hernandez said he was most happy to see them and his brother, but was also touched to find out that friends and family held vigils on his behalf and campaigned for his return.
“It fills me with so much peace, so much comfort, so much tranquility that I was never alone, from day one. There were many people who worried for me,” he said.
(Reporting by Tathiana Ortiz in Capacho, additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San FranciscoWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Rod Nickel)
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