Key Takeaways:
- Bukele offers to return 252 Venezuelans detained in El Salvador for 252 political prisoners held by Maduro.
- Venezuela calls the proposal a violation of human rights and demands full legal documentation.
- The proposed exchange includes U.S. and other foreign nationals among the detainees.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has proposed a controversial prisoner exchange with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, offering to repatriate 252 Venezuelans deported from the United States and detained in El Salvador in exchange for an equal number of Venezuelan political prisoners.
The offer, posted on X (formerly Twitter), comes amid rising tensions over the fate of deported migrants accused by the Trump administration of gang affiliations. The deportees, most of whom are housed in El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), were sent from the U.S. as part of a crackdown targeting alleged members of criminal groups like Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Bukele claimed that many of the detained Venezuelans had prior convictions for serious crimes including rape and murder. However, human rights groups and Venezuelan officials argue there is scant evidence linking them to organized crime.
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab dismissed Bukele’s offer as “cynical,” demanding legal details and medical records of the detainees and accusing El Salvador of violating international human rights standards.
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Political Prisoners and International Concerns
In his public appeal, Bukele stated, “Your political prisoners have committed no crime… The only reason they are imprisoned is because they opposed you and your electoral fraud.”
He also named several individuals as candidates for release under the proposed deal, including journalist Roland Carreño, human rights lawyer Rocío San Miguel, and relatives of prominent opposition leaders like María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
Bukele further expanded the offer to include nearly 50 detainees of other nationalities held in Venezuela, including U.S. citizens. U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler praised the initiative, expressing hope for a humanitarian resolution that could free ten Americans currently detained in Venezuela.
The Salvadoran leader said his foreign ministry would initiate formal diplomatic engagement with the Maduro administration. So far, Venezuela has not publicly indicated whether it will consider the offer.
The proposal has reignited international scrutiny over the Trump administration’s deportation policy and Bukele’s cooperation in detaining foreign nationals. Critics argue that the policy uses El Salvador as an offshore detention site, with questionable due process for those being held.
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