They were the worst 125 days of his life. He is said to have been trapped in a foreign prison and tortured.
Jerce Reyes said he felt like a “living dead” within El Salvador’s terrorist confinement centre, along with 251 other Venezuelan immigrants. They were deported from the United States after being accused of gang involvement. This is an allegation that Reyes and many others have denied.
Reyes described the four-month detention at CECOT as painful as detainees were frequently beaten by security guards, unable to communicate with their families, lacking access to lawyers, and prison officials told the “hell hell” was their permanent home.
CNN contacted President Salvador to comment on immigrant abuse allegations, but has not yet been responded. In the past, the government has respected the human rights of people in detention “regardless of nationality,” and said its prison system complies with standards of security and order.
Amidst so much uncertainty in the prison, Reyes said he clung to the scattered rays of hope that he was hoping to. The chief among them was his faith.
Talked to CNN from Machiques in Venezuela, days after 252 immigrants were released in prison exchange, Reyes said prayers helped him the most.
“I often prayed to God. “He hears my prayers, hears my mother’s prayers… Hear the prayers of my family, all the families here. You know that you will hear their prayers. Get out of here,” he said.
He read the Bible frequently. This is one of the few items inmates have been given to their cells. Before going to bed, he also said he asked God to send him a sign in his dream to know if he would leave prison.
“And I dreamed of being on the football field, specifically at the sports centre in town,” he said.
He also dreamed of his daughters Cara and Isabela. “I had my youngest daughter already grown up and dreamed that she would already go to school, and I said, ‘That’s a sign. I know I’ll come here because I’ll see her at school.” ”
Reyes said that the unwavering sense of optimism, the traits he described, were part of his character, and that elevated the spirit of his fellow detainees.
But that hilarious thinking was often tested, he said, because when he and his mobile were hit by security guards, they often do not rely on Cecot’s strict rules.
They were allowed to take one shower a day at about 4am, using the same water they drank. On a hot day, he said he took a shower to keep him cool when he was not allowed. The guards caught him, entered the cell, beat him, and sent him into a small, isolated cell as punishment, he said.
Several butlers who recently spoke to CNN gave similar explanations. They claim to have been beaten by security guards frequently and shot with rubber bullets to stage hunger strikes.
“We continued on strike as we communicated with other families and demanded that we know what was going on,” Reyes said.
Reyes said he left Venezuela last year due to financial insecurity and applied for asylum in the United States in December. However, in March, the US Department of Homeland Security accused him of being illegally in the country and belonging to infamous gangster Tren de Aragua, claiming he had a tattoo “consistent with what indicates membership in the TDA gang.”
Rays denies this. He says that the tattoo he clearly guilty of represents his favorite team, Real Madrid.
CNN confirmed that Reyes had no criminal history in his home country. His tattoo artist says that in 2018, when Trende Aragua is little known within Venezuela, he was unknown overseas.
Reyes was one of the first groups of Venezuelan immigrants on March 16th. In the first two weeks they were completely blocked from the outside world and didn’t know if anyone else was aware of their situation, he says.
However, at the end of March, a second group of Venezuelan detainees arrived from the United States. From them, Reyes learns for the first time that their stories are attracting global attention and their relatives are fighting desperately for their release.
He recalled that one of the new arrivals said: “People are moving outside with us. Your sister, your mother, and your aunt have done TV interviews. And people are moving for us.”
Reyes said the news gave everyone hope and made them forget the initial warnings of prison staff, at least for now.
Two months after detention, when detainees were visited by members of the Red Cross, there was another hopeful dispatch. The organization was in contact with the family and gave prisoners the first actual communication line with the outside world.
Reyes said detainees relayed a short message through the organization, made notes on what they said and delivered it to their families.
“I told my sister – I cried – and I said to her, ‘Care my dad, my dad, my daughter. We’ll leave soon, we’ll see each other soon, we’ll be together.’ It was a short message,” he said.
Also, according to Reyes, they knew their families hadn’t forgotten them, so they gave them another reason to continue.
Their last indication of hope was when their treatment suddenly changed about a week ago. They were no longer screaming or being beaten, the immigrants said. Instead, they were given new haircuts, better food, and fresh clothes.
Last Friday around 2am, senior officers entered the ward and told me they had 20 minutes in the shower. They were back home.
“And then everyone started screaming, everyone started crying. I started crying and we cried because we already felt we were on the way,” Reyes told CNN.
Caracas and Washington have cast a contract to guarantee the release of all 252 Venezuelan immigrants from El Salvador in exchange for 10 American citizens and dozens of political prisoners held in Venezuela.
The migrants arrived in Venezuela Friday night and were checked for health, immigration and criminal history for several days, among other procedures. By Monday, some were gradually allowed to reunite with families across the country.
Reyes returned to Mahaak on Tuesday night and was greeted by a roaring crowd of about 600 people, including relatives and neighbors. They decorated his home with hand-drawn banners and soccer-themed balloon arrangements from his favorite club Real Madrid.
The crowd chanted his name, cried out, and bubbled, throwing bubbles into the air as Reyes embraced her mother, Antonia, and her daughter, Cara. He then went to the back of the house and greeted his father, saying, “It’s me, dad. I’m fine. I’ll come back and I’ll never leave again.”
Reyes said he went home because the man had changed.
When asked if he had a message to President Donald Trump, whose immigration crackdown led to his imprisonment, Reyes again cites lessons he learned from the Bible.
