MAIQUETIA, Venezuela: Venezuela on Monday received nearly 200 citizens deported from the United States via Honduras, as President Donald Trump cracks down on undocumented foreigners. A plane carrying the deportees touched down early Monday at Maiquetia International Airport outside the capital Caracas. “Today we are receiving 199 compatriots,” said Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at the airport. Live footage showed young men in sweatsuits walking off the plane. Some of them were seen smiling and clapping as officials looked on.

The flight comes after Venezuela on Saturday announced it had reached an agreement with Washington to resume repatriation flights from the United States. It was the latest in a string of repatriations of Venezuelan migrants since US President Donald Trump took office in January. “Flights are resuming,” Cabello said at the airport. “Trips have had little regularity, not because of Venezuela.” “We are ready to receive Venezuelans wherever they are,” he added.

The deportation pipeline was suspended last month when Trump claimed Venezuela had not lived up to a deal to quickly receive deported migrants, and Caracas subsequently said it would no longer accept the flights. But then Washington deported 238 Venezuelans accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang, which Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization, to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a move deeply criticized by Caracas. The migrants were deported via Honduras, the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said. “We expect to see a consistent flow of deportation flights to Venezuela going forward,” it posted on X. — AFP