They Have To Clear Our Names' Venezuelan Deported From US To El Salvador Tries To Rebuild His Life

Andry José Hernández Romero has already picked out the colour of the suit he'll wear to the Three Kings festival in his home town in the Venezuelan Andes.

- Clavel Rangel

The carnivalesque celebration of Epiphany inspired the tattoos that landed him behind bars in El Salvador, accused of belonging to Venezuela's most feared criminal gang, Tren de Aragua. The suit will be green, "like hope", he said.

Now free, and speaking over Zoom from his home, Hernández, 31, lifted his shirt to show two of the nine tattoos on his body: the words mom and dad, each inked beneath a crown. "This is the big controversy that has caused me too much harm," he says.

Hernández, a makeup artist, was one of more than 250 Venezuelan men flown from Texas to the notorious Cecot maximum security prison in El Salvador as part of Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration. They endured months in a facility described as the "cemetery of the living dead" before being repatriated in late July, after a deal between the US and Venezuelan governments.

Now, they are trying to rebuild their lives - and for Hernández, that means planning his outfit for the festival in his hometown of Capacho - a celebration he has been fascinated by since he was a boy.

"I'm already working on my suit. My mom is happier. Everyone wants to help me with the design and the fabrics," he said.

He was arrested last August after crossing the US southern border to attend an asylum appointment. Hernández, who is gay, told agents he was fleeing persecution for his sexual orientation and political views.