The Venezuelan military asylum seeker who was deported by the US and is now in prison in Venezuela

Lieutenant Pedro Naranjo was a helicopter pilot for the National Guard of Venezuela. In May 2018, his father, General Pedro José Naranjo Suárez, was accused of insurrection and sent to prison. In 2022, father and son escaped the country and ended up in USA. But in mid-December of this year, the son was deported by Joe Biden’s government and is now in a Venezuelan prison. This is the story.

The general Orange tree He was arrested along with other officers for allegedly plotting to assassinate the president Nicolas Madurosow chaos and disrupt the presidential elections of Venezuela of 2018, in what the Chavista regime called the Operation Armageddon.

LOOK: Caravan of migrants in Mexico: where they come from and other keys to the largest mobilization of 2023

Orange tree He has always denied involvement in the plot, but was court-martialed on charges that included rebellion and betrayal.

The AP agency reported that in 2021, the general Orange tree He was hospitalized after suffering a stroke in prison. Then, due to international pressure from Maduro’s opponents and the Organization of American States, he was allowed to go to house arrest.

But when he learned that this measure would be revoked, he decided to escape the country. In 2022, the general and his son Pedro Naranjo they left Venezuela across the border with Colombia.

His son has said that he never conspired against the government of Ripebut he joined his father’s escape plan to ensure that he arrived safely at his destination, AP indicated.

Some time later they both began the dangerous path on foot through the Darien jungle; Her final destination was the United States.

On October 4 of this year, they crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, in Texasand surrendered to the Border Patrol.

After ten days of arrest, the general was released while his asylum request is resolved. He established his residence in Texas. His son did not suffer the same fate.as he was sent to a detention center in Louisiana.

On December 14, the young 27-year-old lieutenant was deported to Venezuela in compliance with an order issued by an Immigration judge.

After his arrival in Venezuela he was held in a military prison.

“His only crime was being a good son,” María Elena Machado, who has seen her son in prison twice since he was deported, told the AP.

The rate of granting asylum to Venezuelans

It was 72% in the fiscal year that ended September 30 in the United States, compared to 52% for all other nationalities, according to the Transactional Records Access Information Office at Syracuse University.

General Naranjo’s lament

“We never had a plan B,” the general told the AP agency. Orange tree in a telephone interview from Houston.

“It never crossed our minds that the United States, as an ally of the opposition and democracies in the world, defender of human rights and freedom, would do what it did with my son,” he added.

As AP reports, The United States has resumed deportation flights to Venezuela. According to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data, since October there have been 10 such flights.

Last week, a group calling itself Independent Venezuelan American Citizens (IVAC) joined Republican congressman from Miami, Carlos Jimenezto denounce the deportation and subsequent arrest of orange tree son at the hands of the regime Ripe, AP reported. The organization said it sent a request to the White House on Dec. 12 to block the deportation, but received no response.

According to Ernesto Ackerman, president of IVAC, Lieutenant Naranjo qualified for asylum due to “credible fear”that is, his life is in danger in his country, because he is the son of a soldier who was imprisoned for three years and who is a politically persecuted person from the “Nicolás Maduro regime”.

“He arrives in a democratic country, with the hope that they will give him asylum and they will hand him over to a boss,” Ackerman told the EFE agency.

“It’s like taking a DEA agent and sending him to El Chapo Guzmán,” Ackerman said. “I don’t see any difference.”

The activist recalled that in 2020 the United States Department of State offered a reward of 15 million dollars for anyone who provides information that allows the capture of Ripeaccused of narcoterrorism charges.

In a press conference held in Miami on December 19, IVAC denounced that the deportation of Lieutenant Naranjo will generate a counterproductive effect among the members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela who are willing to “rise up against Maduro.”

“These young people, who are the ones who could rise up in Venezuela“Now they are going to be afraid, they are going to think that they are going to be returned,” the organization explained, according to EFE. “They take away any hope of liberation in Venezuela,” she added.

Sanctions relief

The deportation of Orange tree occurred at a time when USA is easing economic sanctions on Venezuela in exchange for the release of political prisoners, the cessation of persecution of opponents and guarantees of free presidential elections in 2024.

The president of IVAC recalled that the United States Government promised to reimplement the sanctions as of November 30 if Venezuela did not take concrete actions to reverse the annulment of the primary election process of the opposition that won Maria Corina Machadosomething that has not happened.

Also, last week Biden freed a key ally from RipeÁlex Saab, who was arrested more than three years ago and accused of money laundering.