Mervin Jose Yamarte Fernandez thought he arrived in Venezuela when he looked out the window of his expulsion plane. After reading a sign that said “San Salvador”, he heard.
“We stood in the seats, we did not want to let go,” he told ABC News in Spanish.
Yamarte Fernandez, who was one of the more than 250 Venezuelan migrants United States expelled For the notorious of Cecot de Cecot d’El Salvador in March, one of the three Venezuelans who said what they say to be their experience at Cecot in ABC News.
The Trump administration invoked the Act extraterrestrial enemies – A 18th century war authority used to withdraw non-citizens with little or no regular procedure- to expel members of alleged gangs by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” which invades the United States.
The Venezuelans were later released in their country of origin In an exchange of prisoners last week.
Yamarte Fernandez and his two compatriots, addressing ABC News from Venezuela, alleged that they were beaten and refused to access lawyers when they were detained in Cecot. They deny being members of Tren de Aragua.
The alleged blows started as soon as the Venezuelans arrived in Salvador, said Yamarte Fernandez. The men, who were handcuffed and chains, were immediately removed from the plane and taken to Cecot, where they say they were kicked, beaten and shaved.
Salvadoral police escorts members of the members of the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua recently expelled by the United States government to be imprisoned in the prison of the Terrorism Center for Terrorism, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, obtained on March 16, 2025.
Press secretary of the presidency via Reuters
“You will see a real hell,” said Yamarte Fernandez, an Cecot officer told him.
The VenezueLian told ABC News that they had been forced to change clothes in front of CECOT officers who continued to beat them.
“They would not let us dress,” said Yamarte Fernandez. “If you have tried to put boxers, they would hit you with a stick in your private parts. If you shout, they would tell you to shut up.”
“We have had bruises everywhere,” he said. “We didn’t know what to do.”
Yamarte Fernandez said that it was initially placed in a cell with 10 people, but later transferred to a cell with around 80 men.
“We were all cramped together, bunching each other,” he said.
Likewise, Francisco Garcia Casic told ABC News that he had suffered physical and psychological violence in prison. He said that Cecot police told men that they would never leave prison and that “not even the Pope or [Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro] could save them. “”
Sometimes Garcia Casic said that he and other men could not drink water because their bodies had “taken such a blow”. He denies the allegations of being a member of Tren of Aragua and said that he did not know why he was sent to Cecot.
“They linked me to a gang, but they never showed me crimes that proved that I was a criminal, you know?” Casic Garcia said. “I never thought I would finish in a terrorist prison.”
He told ABC News that he was working as a hairdresser in the United States and that he dreamed of supporting his family in Venezuela.
Ysqueibel Penaloza told ABC News that he thought the United States kidnapped him when he was sent to Cecot and prevented him from making phone calls or seeing a judge.
“He was hit after the blow. So many abuses, both physical and psychological,” he said. “They cut our hair when we arrived in the center, they completely humiliated us by making us undress in front of many people to change.”
Penaloza said that when there were visitors, Cecot officers temporarily gave them mattresses, pillows and gave them better food.
Last Monday, Penaloza and Yamarte Fernandez said that prison officers had started to send doctors and nutritionists to check the Venezuelan men. They say they have received soap, shampoo and toothpaste, and have had the hair cut for the first time since their arrival.
On July 18, men said they received clothes and the police said they were leaving.
“We sang and shouted and we thanked God,” said Yamarte Fernandez.
In a statement to ABC News, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the agency had sent men to Cecot “where they no longer constitute a threat to the American people”.
“Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are among the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet Earth,” said McLaughlin. “They violated, mutied and murdered sport. President Trump and secretary Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens.”
The DHS did not comment on allegations of abuse.
Penaloza and Casic Garcia told ABC News that they would never return to the United States
“They treated me like a criminal, like a terrorist, they tarnished my image,” said Casic Garcia. “They made fun of me. I want to be here with my family in my homeland.”
Yamarte Fernandez told ABC News that he would return to the United States – but not under the Trump administration.
“I have so many dreams and so much that I have left,” he said. “I am the one who takes care of my family. And the [U.S.] help you have everything. “”
