El Salvador President Nayib Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro for Venezuelan deportees
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela on Sunday, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the United States his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela.
In a post on the social media platform X, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the government’s electoral crackdown last year.
“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he 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.”
It comes as El Salvador has come under sharp international scrutiny for accepting deportees from Venezuela and El Salvador deported by the Trump administration, which accused them of being alleged gang members with little evidence. Deportees are locked up in a “mega-prison” know as the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), built by the Bukele government during his crackdown on the country’s gangs.
