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The United States deported more than 170 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to Honduras on Thursday, ahead of their expected transfer to Venezuela — appearing to have nearly emptied out the base of migrants.
The deportees were flown from Guantanamo to the city of Comayagua in Honduras and will now be sent to Venezuela on a special flight by the state-owned Venezuelan airline Conviasa, multiple sources told CNN. It’s the first deportation flight from Guantanamo Bay since the Trump administration began transferring migrants there from the United States.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on X it had “transported 177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government.”
The Department of Homeland Security has alleged that Venezuelan migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay have ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Earlier Thursday, Honduras said it had facilitated the transfer of up to 170 Venezuelan migrants from the United States to Venezuela, but would not confirm the group was traveling from Guantanamo.
“The Venezuelan government requested the transfer, it’s a Conviasa flight and they are paying for this,” one of the sources told CNN.
Like several state-owned Venezuelan companies, Conviasa is currently under sanctions from the US Treasury.
CNN has contacted the Venezuelan government for comment.
Flight tracking records indicate a Conviasa aircraft from Venezuela landed in Comayagua, Honduras, on Thursday. Less than an hour later, two GlobalX aircraft from Guantanamo Bay arrived at the same airfield.
Deporting alleged Tren de Aragua members back to Venezuela was one of the issues US envoy Richard Grenell discussed with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro when he visited Caracas in January, the first high-profile visit of a US diplomat to Venezuela in years.
