El Salvador offers prisoner swap to Venezuela

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has offered to return 252 Venezuelans deported to his country by the US in exchange for “political prisoners” held by Caracas.

Bukele had agreed to hold those deported from the US for a fee in a notorious maximum-security prison known as CECOT. The Trump administration claims the Venezuelan migrants are members of criminal gangs, including the Tren de Aragua, which Washington has designated a “terrorist organization.”

However, some of the migrants had not been convicted or charged with any crime and were deported to El Salvador last month despite a court order blocking the move.

Family members told the Financial Times (FT) that the Trump administration admitted in court this month that one of the migrants was mistakenly deported due to an “administrative error” and that some had signed paperwork agreeing to be returned to their home country.

Bukele wrote on the social media platform X on Sunday that the prisoners could be sent to Venezuela in exchange for the same number of “political prisoners” held by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime under a “humanitarian agreement,” claiming, “Your political prisoners have not committed any crime.”

Bukele has a very good relationship with Trump. However, the deportations, which both Washington and Bukele publicized on social media by sharing pictures and videos of men with shaved heads and in chains, have drawn condemnation from human rights groups and Democratic politicians.

Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador this week and met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration admitted it had “mistakenly” deported.

The US Supreme Court ruled last week that the White House should “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, but Bukele has refused to help with his return.

On Saturday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the White House from carrying out further deportations under a rarely used 18th-century law.

According to the Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal, there are 903 political prisoners in the country, including protesters and opposition leaders.

Among the prisoners Bukele mentioned is the son-in-law of former diplomat Edmundo González, who ran against Maduro and is seen by Washington and many of its allies as the winner of last year’s election.

He also referred to Roland Carreño, a journalist, and the mother of opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Initially engaging in talks with Maduro, Trump intensified a “maximum pressure” campaign from the beginning of his term, imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil industry and revoking waivers granted to international energy groups such as Chevron, Repsol, and Eni during the Biden administration.

Last month, Washington announced it would impose a 25% “secondary tariff” on countries purchasing crude oil from Venezuela to cut off funds to the country.