El Salvador's president offers Venezuela prisoner exchange
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has offered Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro a prisoner exchange. Bukele proposed exchanging 252 Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador for an equal number of "political prisoners" in Venezuela, as he wrote on the X platform.
21.04.2025, 03:20
SDA
The detainees in El Salvador were deported by the USA in March as suspected members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua to the notorious high-security prison Cecot. "You have said on numerous occasions that you want the Venezuelans back and free," Bukele wrote to Maduro.
Among other things, the 43-year-old demanded the release and extradition of a number of family members of high-ranking Venezuelan opposition figures as well as journalists and activists who were imprisoned during the government's crackdown during last year's elections. The exchange should also include "almost 50 detained citizens of other nationalities", including US-Americans, Argentinians, Chileans and also Germans. Bukele did not initially provide any further details.
"Unlike our detainees, many of whom have committed murder or rape and some of whom have even been arrested multiple times before being deported, your political prisoners have not committed any crime," Bukele wrote. "They are only imprisoned for opposing them and your electoral fraud."
Legality of US transfers disputed
The US government has begun transferring criminal migrants - particularly from Venezuela - to the mega-prison in El Salvador. Washington is paying the Central American country millions for this. However, the legality of these transfers is disputed. There are also doubts as to whether all those concerned are actually serious criminals - or whether they have committed any crimes at all.
Most recently, a dispute caused a stir when a man was accidentally deported to the notorious prison. The US Supreme Court also recently halted the deportation of dozens of other Venezuelans for the time being.
