Venezuelan child held in US returns: Authorities

Caracas, May 15 (IANS) A two-year-old Venezuelan girl, who had been held by the US government after it deported her mother, returned to Venezuela, where she was received by authorities of the South American country.

Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal was taken from her mother's arms just before she was deported, in an incident that Venezuelan officials described as a "kidnapping".

The toddler returned to Venezuela on Wednesday by a US-registered plane that landed at the the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, which serves the capital Caracas, along with 226 Venezuelan migrants deported from the US, including seven minors and 37 women.

Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores thanked the people for their solidarity with the minor, noting that the government "remained firm" in demanding her return, Xinhua news agency reported.

The girl's mother, Yorelys Bernal, who was deported to Venezuela in April, was not at the airport to receive her, but officials said the two would soon be reunited.

The separation of Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal from her parents had caused an outcry in the South American nation.

Several demonstrations were held in Caracas to denounce her "abduction" by US authorities.

President Nicolas Maduro thanked his US counterpart and arch-foe, Donald Trump, for returning the child to Venezuela.

Striking an unusually conciliatory tone, he said that "there have been, and will be differences" with the Trump administration but called the return of the toddler a "profoundly humane act of justice".

The little girl is one of several children caught up in Trump's crackdown on illegal migration.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the girl was placed in foster care to protect her from her parents, who it claimed were members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua criminal gang.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said her return was "a great victory," adding she "should never have been separated from her parents," and the US government should "recognise the mistakes it has made".

Since February, flights repatriating Venezuelan migrants deported from the US have increased.

The toddler's mother said she and her husband were separated from their daughter when they handed themselves over to US authorities after arriving in the country illegally in May 2024.

Her father is believed to have been among a group of Venezuelans sent by the US to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison.

The Trump administration said that the Venezuelans it sent to El Salvador were members of Tren de Aragua, but has provided scant evidence to back that claim.

The Department of Homeland Security claimed that Maikelys' father, Maiker Espinoza-Escalona, was a Tren de Aragua "lieutenant" who oversaw "homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house".

It said the girl's mother oversaw the recruitment of young women for drug smuggling and prostitution.

The mother, Bernal, 20, claimed they were detained because they had tattoos, which US authorities have linked to gang activity.

Since February, more than 4,000 migrants have been sent home to Venezuela, some deported from the US and others from Mexico, where they had gathered in the hope of crossing into the US.

--IANS

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