Venezuelan makeup artist who was deported to El Salvador seeks asylum in Spain: 'I feel safe here'
Source: The Guardian
Venezuelan makeup artist who was deported to El Salvador seeks asylum in Spain: ‘I feel safe here’
Andry José Hernández Romero was deported from the US to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison before he was allowed to return to Venezuela
Justo Robles
Fri 22 May 2026 11.00 BST
Last modified on Fri 22 May 2026 12.30 BST
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.
Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela for Spain in early February and is due for his first asylum hearing in court there in a few days, hoping that the country’s liberal approach to immigration will afford him kinder treatment than the US or his own country had provided him, he revealed to the Guardian in his first interview since leaving for Europe.
The 33-year-old hairstylist and makeup artist originally came to the US from his home in western Venezuela to escape persecution as a gay man and the risks of opposing the government of its then president Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking in a video call from southern Spain, Hernández is still recovering from the trauma of his experiences in Venezuela, the US and El Salvador, but expressed optimism about his new surroundings.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/22/venezuelan-makeup-artist-cecot-spain-asylum