Caracas, Venezuela - The US deported 177 from its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, to Venezuela on Thursday.
Officials in Washington and Caracas confirmed that a plane left the US base and deposited the 177 people in Honduras, where they were picked up by the Venezuelan government.
The deportees then left for Venezuela on a flag carrier Conviasa flight that arrived in Maiquetia late Thursday.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello received the all-male group at the airport, telling them: "Welcome to the homeland."
"Those who returned, in theory, are all Venezuelans who were in Guantanamo," Cabello told journalists, adding that another deportation flight was expected to arrive at the end of the week.
The operation would have seemed impossible just weeks ago when the US accused President Nicolas Maduro of stealing an election. But since President Donald Trump entered office four weeks ago,, with the White House prioritizing immigration cooperation.
Maduro said the handover was at the "direct request" of his government to that of Trump. "We have rescued 177 new migrants from Guantanamo," he said at an official event.
Trump envoy Richard Grenell on January 31 and met Maduro, who is the subject of a $25 million US bounty for his arrest.
Grenell brokered the release of six US prisoners. A day later Trump announced Venezuela had undocumented migrants deported from the US.
Venezuela said it had "requested the repatriation of a group of compatriots who were unjustly taken to the Guantanamo naval base."
"This request has been accepted and the citizens have been transferred to Honduras, from where they will be recovered," the government said in a statement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed they had transported "177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government."
Caracas broke off ties with Washington in January 2019 after the US recognized then-opposition leader Juan Guaido as "interim president" following 2018 elections.
In October 2023, Maduro allowed US planes with deported migrants to fly into Venezuela but withdrew permission four months later. His government has been flying free or subsidized repatriation flights for Venezuelans wishing to return home.
Human rights groups have to migrants held in Guantanamo after Trump ordered the base to prepare to receive who entered the US without papers.
Guantanamo is synonymous with brutal abuses against people held there after the September 11 attacks.
The US on Thursday of 135 migrants of various nationalities – including 65 children – to Costa Rica, from where they will be repatriated to countries including China, Russia, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Vietnam, the government in San Jose said.