Tattoo artist who agreed to return to Venezuela was sent to El Salvador prison, family says
The brother of Jhon Chacin, a Venezuelan asylum-seeker, is seeking answers as the Venezuelan government calls for the deportees' release from an El Salvador prison.
Were it not for bad weather, Jhon Chacin would have been aboard a flight to his native Venezuela on March 13, having volunteered to go home after giving up on an asylum request that was initially denied. Instead, his brother said, Jhon was among the nearly 300 Venezuelan men sent by U.S. immigration officials to El Salvador's notorious megaprison.
Eudomar Chacin spoke to his brother the day after he was supposed to have returned to Venezuela; because of bad weather they couldn't board the flight, Jhon said. According to Eudomar, Jhon, 35, was crying and told him he was scared because he was seeing unusual movements by staffers at the detention center in Texas where he was being held. Eudomar hasn't heard from him since.
Jhon Chacin, right, with his brother Eudomar Chacin.Courtesy Eudomar Chacin“I just feel like crying all the time — he is a good, healthy kid, he didn’t have any vices, he is Christian, my family is all Christian," Eudomar, who's 56 and lives in Florida, told NBC News. "I want justice and freedom for my brother. And I want him to return to Venezuela.”
Like Eudomar, families of the men who were whisked away have been grappling with the horror of relatives suddenly going "missing" amid the politically charged U.S. government operation, as more relatives and attorneys push for answers and for their release.
At the same time, Venezuela's government is demanding that the deported men be released and returned to their country.
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