Since arriving in this Central American country, the detainees have not been formally charged nor granted access to a fair trial.

Monday marked 100 days of illegal detention for 252 Venezuelan citizens who remain imprisoned without charges or sentencing in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador originally built to house terrorists.

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The detainees were deported from the United States for immigration-related reasons, but since arriving in El Salvador, they have not been formally charged nor granted access to a fair trial. The case has drawn international condemnation, particularly from human rights organizations.

Their imprisonment is taking place under El Salvador’s emergency regime, a legal framework implemented to combat organized crime. However, it is now being used against migrants with no criminal records. Besides being unconstitutional, the emergency regime has left the detainees completely incommunicado, unable to contact lawyers or family members.

At rallies in cities such as Caracas and Maracaibo, Venezuelans have raised their voices for weeks, demanding answers from both the Salvadoran and U.S. governments. As of now, no official communication channels have been established, and the conditions of detention remain opaque.

The text reads, “President Nicolas Maduro likened Bukele to Netanyahu, charging him with human rights abuses. He criticized the Salvadoran Supreme Court’s inaction regarding the abduction of Venezuelan citizens.”

Venezuelan social organizations such as the Popular Rebellion Bloc, along with a U.S.-based legal team, have filed various legal actions before El Salvador’s Supreme Court, its Constitutional Chamber and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.

These legal actions include habeas corpus petitions, challenges of unconstitutionality and formal requests for direct communication between detainees and their families. So far, none of these legal efforts has produced satisfactory outcomes for the families involved.

On June 20, El Salvador’s Constitutional Chamber issued a partial response to some of the legal filings, but defense attorneys argue that the reply was merely procedural and lacked substantive progress. A day later, the legal team submitted a revised petition known as a “warning,” designed to compel the judiciary to act in accordance with both Salvadoran and international law.

“These 100 days have been a nightmare not only for the detainees but also for their families. Due process has been violated at every level,” said one spokesperson for the defense legal team.

From Venezuela, various human rights groups and families have reiterated their call for the migrants’ immediate release or, at the very least, a transparent judicial hearing that would allow them to exercise their right to a legal defense.

The administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has undertaken several diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the migrants, but no concrete progress has been achieved.

In El Salvador, the case is becoming increasingly controversial, as social, academic and religious groups continue to question the legality of prolonged detention without charges or sentencing.

Meanwhile, calls for justice are growing louder — but institutional silence remains. With each passing day, the prison becomes more emblematic of the criminalization of migration in the region.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources VTV – EEF

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