Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a Venezuelan hairstylist and makeup artist, left the US for Spain in early February to request asylum. He concluded he did not feel safe back home and did not trust US authorities enough to return to fight his legal case. He is scheduled for his first asylum hearing in Spain soon. Hernandez previously fled Venezuela due to persecution as a gay man and risks tied to opposing the Maduro government. He later became known after being deported from the US with 252 other Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s Cecot prison under the Trump administration, without due process. He described ongoing trauma but said he feels safe in Spain and hopes to rebuild his mental health and life.
"One of the Venezuelan men sent from the US to El Salvador's most notorious prison by Donald Trump has moved to Spain to request asylum after concluding that he did not feel safe back home and did not trust US authorities sufficiently to return to fight his legal case."
"Hernandez gained global attention last year when he and 252 other Venezuelan migrants were abruptly deported from the US without due process or any word to their families, and in defiance of a judge, and flown by the Trump administration to the brutal mega-prison for alleged terrorists in El Salvador known as Cecot."
"Speaking in a video call from southern Spain, Hernandez is still recovering from the trauma of his experiences in Venezuela, the US and El Salvador, but expressed optimism about his new surroundings. I can say I feel safe here, this is a place where I can be reborn, heal my mental health, let people know about my abilities as a makeup artist and find the happiness they took away from me more than a year ago, he said in the interview conducted in Spanish."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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