Venezuela Resumes U.S. Deportation Flights After Brief Maduro Tantrum

Venezuela will resume accepting U.S. deportation flights on Friday — days after socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro suspended the flights in response to President Donald Trump cancelling a Biden-era oil license granted to Chevron to operate in the country.

According to the Maduro regime, the flights will resume after it “reached an agreement” with President Trump’s Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell.

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Venezuela had initially accepted U.S. deportation flights of illegal Venezuelan migrants and members of the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization after Grenell traveled to Caracas and met with Maduro in late January. Grenell’s visit also led to the release of a group of six unjustly detained Americans, arrested by Venezuelan authorities for their alleged involvement in dubious and unproven plots to assassinate Maduro and “attack” Venezuelan state infrastructure.

Last week, Maduro announced that Venezuela would stop receiving U.S. deportation flights after President Trump terminated a license granted by former President Joe Biden to California-based Chevron in November 2022. The license, which is set to expire on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 12:01 a.m., allowed Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela and sell Venezuelan oil in American markets.

The license allowed Chevron to operate in Venezuela despite the still-active oil sanctions imposed by President Trump during his first term in January 2019. {snip}

Maduro claimed last week that the termination of the Chevron license had “affected” the U.S. deportation flights of migrants. {snip}

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Return to the Homeland is a program originally launched by Maduro in 2018 for Venezuelan migrants wishing to voluntarily return to Venezuela after fleeing from the socialist regime.

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“We ratify that we will take care of our compatriots wherever they may be and we congratulate ourselves for the happiness that comes to Venezuelan homes when we see their sons and daughters return to their homes, to their homeland, to a dignified future that we will build together,” the message concluded.

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