Salvador's Bukele proposes prisoner swap for Venezuelan deportees
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Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has proposed a prisoner swap with Venezuela, offering to release 252 detained deportees in exchange for an equal number of individuals he calls political prisoners held by the Maduro government.
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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele waves as he departs following a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, April 14, 2025, Washington. (AP)
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele proposed a prisoner exchange with Venezuela, suggesting he would release Venezuelan nationals deported from the United States and currently jailed in El Salvador in return for individuals he described as “political prisoners” held by the Venezuelan government, on Sunday.
In a message posted to X and directed at Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Bukele named several individuals arrested during Venezuela’s election-related crackdown last year.
“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” Bukele wrote. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold.”
His list included the son-in-law of opposition figure and former presidential candidate Edmundo González, several political dissidents currently in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, 50 detained foreign nationals, and the mother of María Corina Machado, whose home was reportedly surrounded by police in January.
Bukele added that he would instruct El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry to initiate contact with the Maduro administration.
Señor @NicolasMaduro, usted ha dicho en numerosas ocasiones que quiere a los venezolanos de regreso y en libertad.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 20, 2025
A diferencia de usted, que tiene presos políticos, nosotros no tenemos presos políticos. Todos los venezolanos que tenemos bajo custodia fueron detenidos en el…
Venezuela pushes back
Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office issued a statement later Sunday denouncing Bukele’s remarks as “cynical” and labeling the Salvadoran president a “neofascist.” The statement also demanded that El Salvador provide details on those detained, including their legal status and health conditions.
“The treatment received by Venezuelans in the United States and El Salvador, constitutes a serious violation of international human rights law and constitutes a crime against humanity,” it stated.
The offer follows mounting criticism of El Salvador’s handling of deportees sent from the US under the Trump administration. Many of those expelled were accused of gang affiliations, often without substantial evidence. They are currently held in the massive Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), constructed as part of Bukele’s sweeping anti-gang campaign.
El Salvador’s Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas weighed in on Sunday, urging Bukele “not to allow our country to become a big international prison.”
Despite growing international concern, Bukele has defended the detentions, claiming the detentions were “part of an operation against gangs like the Tren de Aragua in the United States.”
