Leonel Moreno, a Venezuelan illegal migrant “TikTok influencer” who used the Chinese tech platform to teach migrants how to break into American homes and “squat” there, was deported to Caracas in the early midnight hours of Friday.
Moreno arrived at the Simón Bolívar International Airport alongside a new group of 178 Venezuelan deportees. Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s interior minister and a long-suspected drug lord wanted by U.S. authorities — confirmed that Moreno was among the deportees in remarks given to reporters.
Cabello stressed that many of the deportees on the plane were “angry” at Moreno and as such, he necessitated special security measures.
“He [Moreno] was on the list of those who were there and he will go through the same procedure — now, what happened with that gentleman is that many of the people who were on the flight were upset because his campaign was to point out that Venezuelans in the world are criminals. So many of those who were there were angry,” Cabello said.
“From the first moment we had to provide special security, and they put him on the flight because the other passengers, the other comrades who were coming were very upset,” he continued.
Cabello hoped that the migrants are “reunited,” recover “spiritually,” and are able to start again, stressing that it is possible “if they are received lovingly in their family homes, that their families are here to help them.”
Moreno, also known by the moniker “Leito Oficial,” is a 27-year-old Venezuelan who illegally migrated to the United States in 2022 and became infamous after publishing a series of videos on the Chinese social media platform TikTok calling for other migrants to exploit “squatter’s rights” and seize American homes.
In addition to inciting migrants to commit crimes, other videos published by Moreno featured him gloating and mocking those with traditional jobs, showing large sums of money and bragging about supposed economic aid that he received from the U.S. government.
In his now-deleted TikTok account, Moreno also openly gloated how he did not have to work in the United States, as his U.S.-born child allegedly received thousands of U.S. dollars in stipends — emphasizing that “the trick is to have children in the United States.”
“It hurts you because I earn more than you while you work like a slave,” Moreno reportedly said in one such video. “I will always earn a lot of money without much work, and you will always be exploited, miserable, and insignificant.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended Moreno in Gahanna, Ohio, in March 2024 for skipping out and failing to report to ICE as per the terms of the “catch and release” policies of the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden. Moreno was originally apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol at Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 23, 2022, before being released into U.S. territory.
According to a report published by the New York Post in July citing a Homeland Security source, Moreno was a sergeant of the Venezuelan General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), one of the main repressive institutions of the socialist Maduro regime.
According to VTV, the Venezuelan regime’s main propaganda news channel, Cabello claimed that the 178 deportees had been “persecuted and stigmatized” in the United States with the narrative that they all belong to the Tren de Aragua terrorist organization — further claiming that “to date we have not received any member of that gang.”
“All Venezuelans for them are criminals, whoever has an account with the justice system will have to render an account. Here we receive them, we do not cover up any vagabondage or shamelessness to anyone,” Cabello said. “When they arrive here, none of them belong to Tren de Aragua.”
Cabello also claimed the United States had informed the Maduro regime that 223 Venezuelan deportees would arrive on the plane, but only 178 ended up arriving, and accused the U.S. of “disorder” in the deportations.
“There is no minimum order of those they are sending, such is the disorder that they are waiting for us to say that they are all from the Tren de Aragua as they say,” Cabello asserted. “All we ask is that they order the work so that we can facilitate the work here.”
The interior minister and suspected drug lord described the deportations as an “opportunity” for Venezuelan migrants to “escape adverse conditions abroad.”
“Today this is a new group, far from violence, far from evil, far from all the persecution, far from the repression applied in the United States, far from the persecution applied to citizens just for being Venezuelan. So he hopes that now those who did not have proper behavior will go home to heal with the support of family and friends,” Cabello said.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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