Join our Whatsapp channel

       MAIQUETA: Lawyers and relatives of Venezuelans flown from the United States to a notorious jail in El Salvador believe the men were wrongly labelled gang members and terrorists because of their tattoos.

       Jhon Chacin, a professional tattoo artist, has images of “a flower, a watch, an owl, skulls” and family members’ names etched onto his skin. Last October, the 35-year-old was arrested at the Mexican border for entering the United States illegally.

       Then last weekend, after not hearing from him for several days, shocked family members spotted him in a video of shaved and chained prisoners at a maximum security prison in El Salvador. He was one of 238 men declared as a member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua — a terrorist group under US law — and deported by US President Donald Trump.

       Advertisements

       Video Player is loading.

       Play Video Play Loaded: 1.66%

       0:00

       Remaining Time - -:-

       Unmute

       Fullscreen

       This is a modal window.

       The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.

       Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

       Text Color WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan TransparencyOpaqueSemi-Transparent Background Color BlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan TransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent Window Color BlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan TransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

       Font Size 50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400% Text Edge Style NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

       Reset restore all settings to the default values Done

       Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window.

       Advertisement

       X

       “He doesn’t have a criminal record, he’d never been arrested,” Chacin’s sister Yuliana, who lives in Texas, said. She is convinced her brother was designated a gang member because of his body art.

       At the US detention centre, before being deported, “ICE (immigration) agents told him he belonged to a criminal gang because he had a lot of tattoos.” In the western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, family members of several other deportees denied their loved ones were criminals.

       Twenty--three-year-old Edwuar Herna-ndez Herrera, known to family and friends as Edward, left Venezuela in 2023. He made a fraught journey across the jungle-filled Darien Gap before reaching the United States, where he was detained.

       He has four tattoos — his mother and daughter’s names, an owl on his forearm and ears of corn on his chest, according to his mother Yarelis Herrera.

       Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2025