"We lived through hell," says 29-year-old Mervin Yamarte as he steps into his mother's home, wiping away the tears and sweat drenching his face.
He is one of four men from the neighbourhood of Los Pescadores in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela, who were deported from the US to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), a maximum-security jail in El Salvador.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has attempted to ramp up deportations of migrants. Many of them have been sent to Cecot, on allegations of criminality, under an agreement with El Salvador.
Mervin Yamarte and his friends - Edwuar Hernández Herrera, Andy Perozo and Ringo Rincón - spent four months in the notorious mega-prison before being released in a prisoner exchange last Friday.
All four have told BBC News Mundo that during their months in captivity they were subjected to beatings and treated "like animals", including being made to eat with their hands.












