Venezuelan Makeup Artist Deported to Notorious Prison Seeks Asylum in Spain
Justo Robles
Andry José Hernández Romero, a Venezuelan makeup artist deported by the US to the infamous Cecot prison in El Salvador, has fled to Spain to seek asylum. He says he feels safe and hopes to rebuild his life, while his lawyer stresses the need to clear his name.
Andry José Hernández Romero, a 33-year-old makeup artist and hairstylist, was among a group of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration from the United States to El Salvador in March 2025 and held at the notorious Cecot prison. He left Venezuela for Spain in early February to seek asylum. His first court hearing in the country is expected in the coming days.
In his first interview since arriving in Europe, Hernández said: “I can say that I feel safe here. This is a place where I can be reborn, heal my mental health, show people what I can do as a makeup artist, and find the happiness that was taken from me more than a year ago.”
Hernández originally fled to the US to escape persecution as a gay man and the risks of protesting the government of then-President Nicolás Maduro. In March 2025, however, he was abruptly deported along with 252 other Venezuelan migrants—defying a judge’s order and due process—and sent to Cecot, a prison for suspected terrorists. Images of the disoriented and terrified group being shaved and forced to line up with heads bowed went viral worldwide.
International human rights organizations documented that Hernández and other detainees suffered psychological and physical abuse, including sexual violence, before being unexpectedly released last summer during a prisoner exchange and returned to Venezuela. Although given a warm welcome, Hernández began to fear for his life when people showed up knocking on his family’s door in Táchira. He turned down a job offer from the vice president’s office, believing that officials coming to his home meant the government was monitoring him.
The decision to go to Spain came after Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as acting president earlier this year, following Maduro’s capture by US forces. Hernández has relatives in Spain, and Venezuelans do not need a visa to enter, while those fleeing persecution are allowed to apply for asylum. “I hear Spain is a country with open policies toward immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, and that there is no discrimination,” he said.
His lawyer, Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), stated: “From a legal perspective, we believe it is important for him to clear his name if he wishes to come to the US in the future. But from an ethical standpoint, he was accused without any evidence of belonging to an organization he was never involved in. No one should be charged that way without a chance to refute the accusation.”
Spain, where Hernández awaits his first asylum interview later this month, has bucked increasingly harsh immigration policies in Europe and the US. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain would grant legal status to about 500,000 migrant workers, mostly from Latin America. According to Spanish government data, Venezuelans accounted for the highest number of international protection requests in the country in 2025, and by the end of April, more than 25,000 Venezuelans had applied for asylum in Spain.
Though still haunted by his experiences at Cecot, Hernández insisted: “I don’t hold a grudge against the United States. I can’t judge an entire country based on the actions of a group like Donald Trump or Kristi Noem. But entering the US right now does not guarantee I will keep my freedom—that is why I will continue to fight my case from Spain. Restoring my happiness can only happen in the right place, with the right people.”
