Star Metro - Supporters ask to visit deported Venezuelans in Salvadoran jail

It was the first visit to the Central American nation by a family member since more than 250 Venezuelans were expelled by the United States in March, accused of belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.

"We want to be allowed a visit, to check on their health, and to ask for their prompt release," Jhoanna Sanguino, the aunt of Widmer Agelvis Sanguino, told AFP.

Reina Cardenas, a friend of Andry Hernandez Romero's family, said: "We want him to know he's not alone."

"We're fighting for them," she added.

The two women were accompanied by Walter Marquez, president of the Amparo Foundation, a human rights NGO providing legal support to some of the deportees.

"We want to urge the president to receive us so we can present all the documentation that proves they should be released," Marquez told AFP after submitting a visit request.

El Salvador has no international criminal jurisdiction to detain the Venezuelans, who have not been sentenced in the United States, he said.

"Not one of them belongs to Tren de Aragua," Marquez added.

US President Donald Trump invoked rarely used wartime laws to fly many of the migrants to El Salvador without any court hearings.

His administration struck a deal to pay the government of ally Bukele millions of dollars to hold the deportees in a maximum security prison.

Washington has said the Venezuelans' tattoos are evidence of their gang affiliation, though experts say that Tren de Aragua members do not commonly sport gang markings.

Sanguino believes that her 24-year-old nephew was deported because of his tattoos of a clock, a rose and an owl.

"It's shocking not knowing anything about them," she said. "We've put our personal lives on hold to demand justice."

A law firm hired by Caracas to represent some of the other detained Venezuelans says that it has been denied access to them.

T. MacDonald--SMC