By Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson
(Reuters) – Venezuelans held in a high-security prison in El Salvador shouted “freedom” and used a hand signal for help in a video published by the far-right One America News Network, a rare glimpse of the detainees since they were sent there by the U.S. in March.
Matt Gaetz, a former U.S. lawmaker and ally of President Donald Trump, toured the prison with the conservative news outlet and Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna. As part of the tour on May 9, they visited the wing of the prison holding the deported Venezuelans, who the Trump administration alleges are members of the gang Tren de Aragua, OANN said.
Video footage showed dozens of men pressed up against cell bars clad in white prison-issue shorts and shirts or shirtless. The men shouted as the tour passed through but could be heard calling to be liberated and saying “Venezuela.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not comment on the video footage, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The cells in El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) included the towering stacks of bunkbeds seen in another part of the prison commonly featured in media tours. One of the cells in the wing housing Venezuelans had a towel with a cross drawn onto it draped across the bars.
Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to rapidly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. While Trump’s proclamation was blocked later that day, two planes carrying Venezuelans deported under the little-used wartime statute continued on to El Salvador.
Family members, many of whom deny the gang allegations, have been unable to communicate with the men, who have no access to phones, attorneys or legal venues to contest their detention.
On Tuesday, they pored over the footage, looking for their loved ones. Reuters spoke with a dozen people who said they recognized their family members.
Reuters could not independently verify whether the men the family members recognized were in the prison. The U.S. has not released a list of the names of the deportees.
Angie Rios, a U.S. citizen, spotted her husband Jesus Rios, 22, in the video, calling out to the camera pleading for freedom in English and in Spanish. She felt a mix of emotions, she said, “confused, desperate, angry, hopeful, frustrated.” After seeing the video she was barely able to get out of bed, she said.
Maria Alejandra Falcon recognized her son, 25-year-old Yolfran Escobar, hugging the bars of his cell. “Since I saw it I haven’t stopped crying and thinking what can I do to help my son?” she said. “It is a pain so great it feels like they are tearing out my soul.”
Paola Moreno, sister of Maikel Moreno, 20, said she felt helpless seeing her brother in the cells. “He is not a criminal, he doesn’t deserve this,” she said.
On a post on X, Gaetz highlighted allegations that the men were gang members.
“These are the Tren de Aragua guys democrats want back in America,” Gaetz said in a post accompanying a video clip.
Trump nominated Gaetz to serve as his attorney general in late 2024 before taking office but Gaetz withdrew in the face of steep Senate opposition over his past conduct. He now hosts a talk show on OANN.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the prison in late March with pool reporters, later sharing a video on social media with prisoners in the backdrop that warned of the consequences of being in the U.S. without legal immigration status.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington, D.C. and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Sonali Paul)
