“It is a hell what we live”: a neighborhood of Venezuela celebrates the return of 4 repatriated who denounce abuses in the CECOT, the maximum security prison of El Salvador

The young Venezuelan Mervin Yamarte cries when hugging a relative in the Los Pescadores neighborhood, in Maracaibo. — Photo foot, The young Venezuelan Mervin Yamarte, repatriated to his nation after being imprisoned in the Cecot of El Salvador for more than four months, cries when hugging a relative in the Los Pescadores neighborhood, in Maracaibo.

- Author, Gustavo Ocando
- Author's title, Special for BBC World from Pescadores, Venezuela
1 hour

The fishermen, in the west of Venezuela, ceased to be in a jiffy that disconsolate neighborhood since March because four of their boys had been deported from the United States to El Salvador.

This Tuesday, at 4.15 in the afternoon, their paths were filled with excitement and party when they are back.

“Back home”, the song of Cáceres that has become hymn of the Venezuelan emigrant who returns to his country, sounded at full volume when Mervin Yamarte, 29, Edwar Herrera (23), Andy Perozo (30) and Ringo Rincón (39), arrived in his neighborhood, in the city of Maracaibo.

They also resonated the bugles of a motorcycle caravan that escorted them from a nearby military command, where they had stopped after having traveled by Caracas for more than 15 hours. His heads, as well as those of a multitude of relatives and neighbors, were covered with white foam.

“It is hell what we live,” Mervin told the press right away that he entered his mother's house, Mercedes, drying his tears and sweat that ran down his face under a very brave sun, with his 6 -year -old daughter in his arms.

His relatives were already surprised inside the house with several gifts, also decorated: a thermal vessel; a clock; a pair of perfumes; and chocolates.

Mervin and his friends, as well as several dozen Venezuelans, were imprisoned for more than four months in the maximum security prison of El Salvador, the CECOT, after being deported by the United States, in March.

The four were arrested in Texas for alleged migratory crimes and for having been profiled as alleged members of the dangerous Venezuelan criminal gang El Train de Aragua (ADD).

The young Venezuelan repatriated from the Cecot, Mervin Yamarte, smiles inside his mother's house in the Los Pescadores community, neighbor to Lake Maracaibo — Photo foot, Mervin Yamarte, smiles inside his mother's house in the Los Pescadores community, neighboring Lake Maracaibo.

Negotiation and exchange

Some 252 Venezuelans imprisoned in the CECOT, including the young people of the fishermen, were released on Friday and repatriated amid negotiations between the governments of Donald Trump and Nicolás Maduro.

The agreement included the release – and its immediate trip to the United States – of 10 Americans arrested in Venezuela and some 80 Venezuelan political prisoners, according to the official versions of Washington and Caracas.

Photo foot, Family and friends of 4 young Venezuelans arrested at the CECOT and repatriated last week prepared decorations and welcome posters in the Los Pescadores neighborhood, in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Employee of a tortilla factory in Texas at the time of his arrest, Mervin thanked God and Maduro for his diplomatic proceedings. He did not waste time to denounce physical and psychological abuses in the CECOT.

“They told us that the one who entered did not come out. The director (of the CECOT) told us that we were not going to eat flesh anymore. Everything we suffered is true,” he said, stopped in front of a decoration of balloons of the national tricolor.

He assured that their custodians forced them to eat with their hands and on the floor, “like animals”, that they were beaten “to each ratic”, that they denied the belongings to see and that even the health personnel came to mistreat them.

The Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office announced that it will open an investigation against the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for the alleged abuses committed against Venezuelans in the CECOT.

This Monday, in his X account, Bukele reacted writing: “Maduro's regime was satisfied with the exchange agreement; that's why they accepted it.”

He added: “Now they shout and indignantly, but not because they disagree with the treatment, but because they have just realized that they were left without hostages of the most powerful country in the world,” referring to the releases of released and repatriated.

When the lawyers in the United States of Kilmar Abrego (El Salvadoran who was deported by an “administrative error” and was imprisoned in the CECOT more than two months) assured that his client had been subjected to abuse, beating and psychological torture, Bukele published a video in which he said:

“If I had been tortured, deprived of sleep and hungry, why do you look so well in all photos? Why would I have increased weight? Why aren't there bruises, or even dark circles under your eyes?”

Since it was opened, the prison of the CECOT has been criticized for its hard regime and small spaces for prisoners. The prison managers have said that it meets all international standards.

From “mud sleep” to their homes

The families of the repatriated fishermen began on the weekend the welcome preparations, among rumors that they could arrive at any time, even Saturday night: they decorated bajeques and facades with blue, yellow and red balloons; They sounded Christian songs; and gathered in the streets of the neighborhood at expectation.

They also guided reception posters. “You made you surprise,” said one of the banners in the home of Mervin's mother. His adhesives came to detach himself through the sand and heat, which exceeded 42 degrees of thermal sensation. Dozens of the balloons also exploded through the high temperatures.

Yarelis Herrera decorated the porch of his house with a gigantic impression of photographs of his son, Edwar, and a message titled “Welcome home, my love.” “Do you know? Mom never left you alone, or your family,” he wrote.

Yarelis Herrera, mother of Venezuelan repatriate Edwar Hernández, in front of the decoration she prepared to receive it. — Photo foot, Yarelis Herrera, mother of Venezuelan repatriate Edwar Hernández, expresses BBC Mundo her happiness for her son's return.

He said he recognized his son when he descended from the plane in Maiquetía, on Friday, when a dozen neighbors gathered to watch on television how two planes with the 252 repatriated on board landed from El Salvador.

“It was as if we were watching a football match. That were cries and screams. He who did not cry is because he has no feelings,” says laughing.

Edwar, meanwhile, said he had lived “torture” in the CECOT. “They shot me (pellets) four times” during the more than 4 months of detention, he said, drinking Sips a Venezuelan beer.

“The beds were a can. I didn't know if it was better to sleep or stay awake. We didn't see lawyers, we didn't see a judge,” he described. For him, he could not live the American dream in the United States. It was “a 'mud dream',” he said.

Sitting between his children and his mother, who suffers from cancer, Ringo Rincón joined the allegations of human rights violations in El Salvador and confirmed that they will file a formal complaint through the Venezuelan prosecutor.

“They hit us so much that we even bleed. From the first moment (in March), they get off the plane to blows, walking 'Embicados' (crouching), up to 5 wives,” he said, before hugging two of his children again.

“The day to day was blows”

Photo foot, The repatriated Venezuelan Andy Perozo greets neighbors and family in the Marabino neighborhood of the Fishermen, on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 22, 2025.

Andy Perozo, already at the house of his parents Wilfredo and Erkia, two blocks from the initial welcome celebration in the fishermen, says he has received a pellet near his left eye and multiple physical abuses.

“The day to day was blows,” he said on his many weeks in the CECOT, just started his talk with the press after a fast shower.

Perozo accused his custodians of wanting to “erase” one of his tattoos in the medical services of the CECOT, even while he was handcuffed. “I was kneeling. They kicked me on my chest and they climbed on my wives. I had a full week” like this, he healed that wound, he denounced.

He claimed that the authorities of the Salvadoran prison fed them and wore well on the eve of some visit from Red Cross delegates, also to allegedly “take photos” that benefited the image of the CECOT.

Photo foot, The reception of the young Venezuelans repatriated in their community of the fishermen, in Maracaibo, capital of the Zulia state, bordering with Colombia.

He said that Venezuelans were mutinied twice by verifying that they had seriously attacked some of them. He blamed for most of the abuses that denounced a guardos name Zambrano, who nicknamed “Satan.”

When talking about his children, Perozo smiles again. Hugs them to pose for a group photo. “I don't know them, they are very big!” He joked, laughing at last. Your future plans in Venezuela? “Don't leave the country anymore and work.”

And the party throughout the neighborhood seemed just begun.