Carlos Alejandro Cañizales Arteaga (25) is originally from Valencia, Carabobo State. In Venezuela, he worked as a mechanic alongside his father. Carlos is not a criminal; he has never belonged to any criminal organization according to his mother, Jetzy Arteaga.
Carlos emigrated to the United States in the summer of 2024. But in February of 2025, he was arrested in a raid in North Carolina with seven other young Venezuelan men.
One of the other men arrested in the same raid, Ysqueibel Penaloza’ mother recounted what her son told her about the raid: “It was traumatic - he told me they arrived by helicopter and by land, dressed and covered up like riot police, as if they were going to arrest someone very dangerous. My son was told nothing about why they were arrested, nor was he shown a warrant.”
The first few days after Carlos and the seven other Venezuelans were arrested, Carlos was in communication with his wife and with mother. “I would rather be in Venezuela free than in the United States in prison. I am going to sign my deportation papers,” Jepzy remembers Carlos telling her at that time.
On Friday March 15, 2025, Jetzy said Carlos called from detention in Texas. “He told me, ‘Mom, it's ready, they're going to deport us, I signed my deportation papers, they're taking us to Venezuela.’ I told him, ‘Be happy, son, it's okay.’” But in the evening, she received another call from Carlos saying there had been a delay due to weather and Carlos would be coming to Venezuela a day later.
On Saturday, Jetzy sent her niece to buy some balloons to welcome Carlos. “Until 12 noon, everything was going well. My daughter called me at 3 p.m. to say that he hasn't arrived,” Jetzy said, but she didn’t start to really worry until the evening. “We were glued to the television at 9, 10 o'clock at night, and nothing.”
Jepzy received the bad news from her other daughter, who is still in the United States, that the plane that left the Texas immigrant prison, where Carlos Alejandro was, had been sent to El Salvador. “Shortly after, images began circulating on social media that looked like a trailer for a horror movie, with human beings chained together as if they were ferocious beasts,” Jetzy said.“When I saw the video of my son, when they were removing his hair with the machine, he was a little unrecognizable; but we managed to identify him. My daughter told me, 'That's Carlos Alejandro,'" Jepzy remembers.
A few days later, Carlos’ family’s worries were confirmed when they saw his name on the leaked list of men sent by the US to CECOT prison in El Salvador without a trial or evidence that he is a gang member.
"What worries me most is the life they're living, the moment they're experiencing there in El Salvador. Everyone has seen that prison, how dangerous it is. They're not used to living like that, because they're not criminals."
"Please investigate," Jetzy demands of the Salvadoran authorities. "Anyone with a criminal record should pay what they owe; but those who are innocent, please bring them here. All of us desperate mothers are here, and we will continue fighting. ""If I have to go to El Salvador to look for my son, I'll look for him. If I have to go and chain myself up in that penitentiary, I'll do it, because for a child, you do anything. I never imagined I'd be where I am right now," she added.
References:
https://diariovea.com.ve/madre-venezolana-dispuesta-a.../ https://www.gob.pe/.../3900618-000286-2022-jz9hyomigracioneshttps://www.facebook.com/reel/665243449528590https://www.facebook.com/reel/1492985515013746https://diariovea.com.ve/comite-de-familiares-bufete-de.../https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJoirY1RlEa/https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIPPBNAPUsg/https://talcualdigital.com/maduro-ordena-gestiones-para.../