Caracas: Venezuela announced an agreement with the United States to resume flights of Venezuelan migrants, days after the controversial deportation of Venezuelan migrants accused of belonging to a criminal gang to El Salvador. "We have agreed with the US government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday," said President of Venezuela's Assembly and chief negotiator with the US Jorge Rodr­guez in an official statement. "Migrating is not a crime and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who require it and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador," Rodr­guez added.

According to Qatar News Agency, Venezuelan President Nicol¡s Maduro stated that the migrants deported to El Salvador had not committed any crimes in the US or the country to which they were sent, stressing that they would return to Venezuela soon. "We are resuming flights to rescue and release migrants from US prisons," Maduro said. A plane carrying 300 Venezuelan migrants, who were on their way to the US but were stranded in Mexico, arrived in Caracas on Thursday.

Sunday's flight is scheduled to be the fifth carrying migrants to Venezuela since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Maduro noted that the agreement with Washington stipulates the repatriation of Venezuelan irregular migrants, stressing that repatriations will continue on a weekly basis. For its part, the US administration denied that repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants from the US would resume as planned, accusing President Maduro of "lying" to his people. This tension comes in the context of broader diplomatic disputes between the two countries. Washington did not recognize Maduro's re-election in 2018 and 2024 and imposed economic sanctions aimed at ousting him.