Toddler arrives in Venezuela after being separated from parents when they were deported from US

(16 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caracas, Venezuela - 15 May 2025
1. Various of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro holding 2 year-old girl Maikelys Espinoza at a government rally
2. Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores with Espinoza
3. Maduro and government officials sitting as Espinoza plays on stage
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan President:
"Thank God, before everything, the miracle consummated again and is the greatest joy."
5. Various of Espinoza eating ice cream
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan President:
"Let's give an applause for the family for the migrants kidnapped in El Salvador, by petition of "La Sayona" (The Banshee - refering to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado) they kidnapped them and sent them to El Salvador. She is the devil, evil and perversity but with the favor of God sooner rather than later we will rescue them safe and sound, all of the Venezuelans kidnapped in El Salvador and will come to hug their families."
7. Families of Venezuelans in El Salvador applauding
8. Wide of crowd listening to Maduro
9. Espinoza and Maduro on stage
STORYLINE:
2-year-old Maikelys Espinoza, who was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S., appeared on stage with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at a government event in Caracas on Thursday.

The toddler played on stage and ate ice-cream as government officials attended the event marking the International Day of Families.

Maikelys Espinoza arrived at an airport on Wednesday outside the capital, Caracas, along with more than 220 deported migrants.

Footage aired by state television showed Venezuela’s first lady Cilia Flores carrying Maikelys at the airport.

Later, Flores was shown handing the girl over to her mother, who had been waiting for her arrival at the presidential palace along with Maduro.

The child's mother arrived in Venezuela on a recent flight without her daughter.

Her father had already been deported to El Salvador in March and is being held in a maximum-security prison, according to the family's lawyers.

U.S. authorities allege that both parents are linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, which was designated a terrorist organization under President Donald Trump.

Venezuela dennounced the case as kidnapping.

AP Video shot by Juan Arraez

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