When Jose, a Venezuelan migrant who was in search of asylum in the USA, was awoken by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, he sensed he was being despatched to Guantanamo Bay, residence of the infamous U.S. jail camp that administration officers stated would home essentially the most violent “worst of the worst” migrants apprehended on American soil.
“Once we obtained on the [military] aircraft, they put restraints on our arms, toes, and waist,” stated Jose, who requested that his final identify not be used out of worry of retribution. “They searched us after which sat us in a chair, tying us to it and binding our toes collectively. We hoped it would not be Guantanamo however in the long run, that is the place we ended up.”
Jose is among the greater than 170 migrants who spent two weeks on the naval base earlier than being despatched to Venezuela. He instructed ABC Information that whereas he had a suspicion he was being despatched to Guantanamo, he claims U.S. officers by no means instructed him and the opposite migrants the place they have been being despatched.
“Our minds have been racing, pondering we have been kidnapped, questioning who would get us out of there,” stated Jose. “As a result of nobody tells you something.”
Jose instructed ABC Information that he had traveled to Mexico’s northern border to attend for an asylum appointment that he requested by way of the U.S. Customs and Border Safety app, previous to it being shut down by the Trump administration. After three weeks of ready and “no meals or a spot to remain,” he determined to give up to authorities on the U.S. southern border. He was detained at a detention heart till he was transferred to Guantanamo.
ABC Information spoke with Jose and one other Guantanamo detainee, Jhoan Bastidas Paz, in Spanish, and reviewed court docket testimonies from three different detainees about their expertise on the naval base earlier than they have been launched. They allege U.S. officers transferred them to Guantanamo regardless of their having no prison information, and several other declare they have been denied telephone calls with their attorneys and kinfolk regardless of repeated calls for.
“From the second we have been there, we tried to kick the doorways, we went on numerous strikes,” Jose stated. “We clogged the bathrooms and protested, we lined the cameras as a result of the confinement is insufferable.”
The primary gate on the jail in Guantanamo on the US Guantanamo Naval Base, Oct. 16, 2018, in Guantanamo Base, Cuba.
Sylvie Lanteaume/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Jose instructed ABC Information the room during which he was positioned had “cobwebs and a disgusting odor.” He stated that he spent 10 days and not using a mattress.
“They offer you meals … however it’s like they do not provide you with any, [it’s] little or no meals,” Jose stated. “There got here a degree the place I might lick the plate. The meals had no salt, however I might nonetheless eat it as if it have been very tasty, as a result of I used to be hungry.”
Jose stated he and the opposite detainees have been solely allowed outdoors twice in two weeks and have been denied telephone calls with their kinfolk and households.
“There are 4 cages outdoors,” Jose stated. “That is the yard. You permit one room to enter one other cell.”
Representatives from the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t reply to a request for remark from ABC Information.
Bastidas Paz had surrendered to authorities after crossing the U.S. southern border from Mexico in 2023. He was charged with “improper entry” to which he pleaded responsible, and was in a detention heart in El Paso, Texas, till he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Each Jose and Bastidas Paz instructed ABC Information they don’t seem to be members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, regardless of the U.S. authorities saying they’re.
“We’re not from Tren de Aragua or something, we’re not criminals, we’re immigrants,” Bastidas Paz stated. He stated that officers by no means instructed him he was being despatched to Guantanamo after which to Venezuela.
“I do not suppose it is honest that they are taking us there, like that, with lies, as a result of virtually we’re being taken there, kidnapped, with out telling us something, and after we notice it, they depart us there, and I do not suppose it is honest,” Bastidas Paz stated.
Bastidas Paz instructed ABC Information that he went on a starvation strike with different detainees whereas they demanded info from officers. He additionally claims he was solely allowed to bathe thrice in the course of the time he was in Guantanamo.
“We’re immigrants and we’ve not dedicated any crime to be taken to that very ugly jail,” Bastidas Paz stated.
Jose stated he has not been capable of sleep since he arrived in Venezuela.
“I have never slept in any respect due to the worry that I would go to sleep and … I would get up again there,” he instructed ABC Information. “That is the phobia I really feel.”
