Gay makeup artist deported by ICE describes horrific torture at CECOT
After 125 days in silence, detained inside an El Salvador concrete fortress built to disappear people, gay makeup artist Andry Hernández Romero is finally home in Venezuela, alleging he was tortured, sexually abused, and denied food while detained under a Trump administration deportation order that erased him from society.
“It was an encounter with torture and death,” Hernández, 32, told journalists at his family home in Capacho on Wednesday, describing how he and others were beaten, shot with rubber projectiles, and confined in dark cells, before they were suddenly freed on Friday. “Many of our fellows have wounds from the nightsticks; they have fractured ribs, fractured fingers and toes, marks from the handcuffs,” he said, according to Reuters. “Others have marks on their chests, on their face ... from the projectiles.”
In a televised interview aired on Venezuelan state media Monday, Hernández alleged sexual abuse by guards. The Venezuelan attorney general has said his office will investigate Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele over the reported torture of Venezuelan nationals, Reuters reports. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security dismissed the abuse claims Tuesday, calling the deported men “criminal, illegal gang members,” Reuters reports.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 48 | July 28, 2025 9:18 PM
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Did he enjoy the sexual part?
by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 25, 2025 10:46 PM
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Now write a harrowing book like "Midnight Express" and make big money.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 25, 2025 11:16 PM
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I hope Pedro Pascal plays him on the big screen. Easy Oscar.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 25, 2025 11:22 PM
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What’s most infuriating is our government is still slandering these men! Calling them liars to protect Bukele is disgusting.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 25, 2025 11:25 PM
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Holocaust vibes, & I don’t say this lightly.
How the fuck can Americans not see this?
When you make America unsafe for people who are NOT criminals, & in this country legally, you make this country unsafe for us all, including Jews.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 26, 2025 12:00 AM
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Fuck Trump
Fuck Noem
USA needs Nuremberg trials for what they did to these men
by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 26, 2025 1:35 AM
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I’m so glad he has been freed.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 26, 2025 1:42 AM
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The next Democrat president should have the Salvadoran leader murdered.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 26, 2025 1:45 AM
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Kristi Noem is a child of Satan.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 26, 2025 1:48 AM
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[quote]r9 = How the fuck can Americans not see this?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 14 | July 26, 2025 1:57 AM
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The Nuremberg trials were staged by liberators. No one is coming to save us, R10.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 26, 2025 2:03 AM
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Well, it looks like he got to brush his perfect teeth regularly, at least.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 26, 2025 2:33 AM
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R14 Great clip. Americans may not know the details but we know it is bad. The place is basically a concentration camp. They're sending people to "prisons" with no formal sentence... Exactly what these folks serving? What is the length of their 'sentence." None. They're sending them to die or to be tortured.
This American isn't surprised by the gay hairstylist's remarks. What surprises me is that he got out of that place alive.
This entire period is going to be a historical embarrassment for the US.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 26, 2025 2:52 AM
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This lovely man--I am just so overwhelmed with happiness for his release. Look at his eyes in that photo. I can't even imagine the relief he must feel to have been freed from that hell hole.
He has a long path ahead of him in terms of trauma recovery. He's suffered so much in his short life. I hope he's able to apply for political asylum somewhere in Europe that will be a less cruel and punishing place than America where he can find safety and healing.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 26, 2025 3:00 AM
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As a former drag queen, I do not like to see our makeup artists abused!
Poor lamb [bold]: (
by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 26, 2025 3:26 AM
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There's no such thing as a *former* drag queen, r19. You just don't have your face on.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | July 26, 2025 3:38 AM
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skiddy panties fave made themselves known
by Anonymous | reply 21 | July 26, 2025 4:08 AM
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Turns out everything we learned about America; every time we said the pledge of allegiance—it’s all a lie
by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 26, 2025 4:31 AM
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Many things about patriotism & governance are a lie, R22, in almost every single country. The more developed and financially stable a country becomes, the more people in political power lie & engage in hypocrisy, to varying degrees.
Currently, our country and its democratic norms/systems, have been hijacked by bad actors who proclaim themselves above all else, to be genuine Christians, which they are not.
These bad actors have lost their sense of what TRUE Christianity is all about, as their initial beliefs & intentions have been usurped by the idea & reality of power, & money - EVERYTHING Jesus Christ condemned.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 26, 2025 11:44 AM
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R22 Just figuring that out?
by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 26, 2025 2:14 PM
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terrible. hope he can come back to us. why does everyone keep calling him the gay make up artist? what does gay have to do with anything?
by Anonymous | reply 25 | July 26, 2025 2:37 PM
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R9 I think the Trumpers see it but don't care. They complain about Spanish speaking and are happy to see it go. They don't want to pay for "illegals" healthcare. An "illegal" hit my car and drove off. An "illegal" did me wrong and got away with it by pretending not to know English. That sort of thing.
They don't care what happens to them, even if it violates rights. They say they broke the law first by being illegal. They can't see the erosion in democracy.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 26 | July 26, 2025 2:49 PM
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R25 I think because it reinforces the ludicrousness of the charges being levied against him by MAGA that he's secretly a member of one of Mexico's most terrifying, violent gangs, when it's clear to anyone with eyes that he's a flouncing Nancy Boy with a contour kit.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 26, 2025 8:50 PM
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R25 Narco cartels are absurdly macho and don't allow homos
by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 26, 2025 9:38 PM
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R23 They're political cynics. The evangelical movement is an entirely artificial construction of conservative politics. They created a church with an explicit goal of churning out a voting base.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | July 26, 2025 9:39 PM
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Remember, with MAGA, cruelty is the point.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | July 26, 2025 10:37 PM
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I was going to ask where the local Trumptards were, how they could justify this…
by Anonymous | reply 31 | July 26, 2025 10:52 PM
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It’s probably about time for a makeup tutorial in here
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 32 | July 26, 2025 11:02 PM
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He's in a gang!
It's a singing and dancing gang, like the ones in West Side Story!
This dangerous criminal needs to go back to prison!
by Anonymous | reply 33 | July 27, 2025 12:55 AM
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Gay makeup artist tearfully reunited with family after release from El Salvador
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 34 | July 28, 2025 7:38 AM
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NEW: Deported makeup artist FREED in prisoner swap with Venezuela
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 35 | July 28, 2025 7:39 AM
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Awful. So many are in denial about it or turn a blind eye because it's easier. And obviously Trump et al will label it as "fake news" and carry on. Rinse and repeat.
As someone said earlier, cruelty is part of it. These people are angry at their lives and directing said anger towards immigrants makes them feel better about themselves.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | July 28, 2025 10:36 AM
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Can all the men who were wrongly imprisoned sue Trump and co.?
by Anonymous | reply 38 | July 28, 2025 2:14 PM
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I’m trying to understand. He claimed asylum in the U.S., stating he faced persecution in Venezuela.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | July 28, 2025 2:30 PM
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R39, where have you been for the last 15 years???
Have you ever researched the history of Venezuela, particularly, that history in the last 20 or so years?
Venezuela is a failed state. There’s absolutely no reason for Venezuelans to remain there, unless they’re part of their corrupt government, & even then, it’s dicey AF.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | July 28, 2025 3:44 PM
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[quote] Venezuela is a failed state. There’s absolutely no reason for Venezuelans to remain there, unless they’re part of their corrupt government, & even then, it’s dicey AF.
And it wasn't safe to be gay in that country, either.
I think he was claiming asylum on that basis.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | July 28, 2025 4:53 PM
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He should have gone to Canada
by Anonymous | reply 42 | July 28, 2025 5:04 PM
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[quote] And it wasn't safe to be gay in that country, either. I think he was claiming asylum on that basis.
But now he’s in Venezuela. If he’s embraced by his community and the government, that’s not going to help his asylum claim.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | July 28, 2025 7:09 PM
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Didn't Trump and co. already deny his asylum claim out of spite after they shipped him to El Salvador?
by Anonymous | reply 44 | July 28, 2025 8:13 PM
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R38 Kilmar is suing DHS saying he was tortured. DHS continues to call him a monster and threaten to send him back before his day in court.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | July 28, 2025 8:17 PM
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I somehow missed this — omg. He’s alive and out of there. I sadly thought he was probably dead.
What a nightmare— and what a profound national shame. First that depraved and evil things like this are even happening, and second that a large % of American voters are ok with it or even glad about it.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | July 28, 2025 8:20 PM
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Also the poor man fled Venezuela because he was personally in danger of violence and murder. Now he’s been sent back there.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | July 28, 2025 8:28 PM
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America needs to wake the fuck up. Miscarriages of justice like this are only the tip of the iceberg. Holocaust level atrocities like this are happening everyday and…business as usual I guess? People should be rioting in the streets.
Kristi Noem is ACTUALLY evil. Mean. Thick-headed. Devoid of humanity. Smug. Hypocritical. And the face of the new Christianity. And with an agenda that can no longer be denied or ignored.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | July 28, 2025 9:18 PM
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