LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A federal judge says government lawyers gave a, quote, "woefully insufficient" response to his demands for more details after the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, despite the judge's order to turn the planes around. While the case plays out in court, officials in Venezuela and the U.S. continue to trade insults and threats. The Trump administration says the detainees were members of a violent gang. Venezuela says the U.S. and El Salvador, quote, "kidnapped" its citizens. Here's NPR's Carrie Kahn.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Venezuela's interior minister greeted a planeload of deportees from Mexico in Caracas Thursday. Many of the more than 300 aboard were women and children. They waved tiny Venezuelan flags and sang the national anthem all on live TV.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in Spanish).
KAHN: Unlike the direct deportation flights from the U.S., which Nicolas Maduro has stopped accepting, ones from Mexico continue. But the return flights don't usually get such broadcast welcomes by the government of Maduro, like this one yesterday.
(CHEERING)
KAHN: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said unless Maduro starts accepting U.S. flights, new sanctions will be slapped on Venezuela. U.S. officials yesterday also accused Maduro of lying about Thursday's repatriation from Mexico. His interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, returned the accusations.
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DIOSDADO CABELLO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "Someone is lying in the U.S.," he said. Maduro says the hundreds of Venezuelans that he says were kidnapped and taken to El Salvador must be immediately returned. Geoff Ramsey of the Washington, D.C.-based Atlantic Council says Maduro is portraying himself now as a benevolent leader.
GEOFF RAMSEY: It's really astounding the degree to which the regime is capitalizing on the moment, and there doesn't really seem to be much of a clear plan to counteract that.
KAHN: Nearly 8 million citizens have fled Venezuela in recent years due to the economic crisis and Maduro's tightening political control.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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