El Salvador's Offer for a Humanitarian Prisoner Swap with Venezuela

El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, has proposed a swap to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro: El Salvador would return 252 Venezuelans deported by the United States and currently imprisoned in his country if Venezuela agrees to release an equal number of political prisoners.

Bukele made this appeal directly to Maduro through a social media post. He argued that while the deported Venezuelans have been accused of serious crimes like “rape and murder,” those imprisoned in Venezuela suffer solely for opposing the government, particularly after Maduro’s controversial re-election last year.

Venezuela’s top prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, condemned Bukele’s suggestion. He demanded clarity on the charges against these deportees, questioning whether they had faced a judge or received legal representation. Despite Venezuela’s claim of having no political prisoners, international human rights groups challenge this.

In a social media post, Bukele proposed to Maduro: “I am offering a humanitarian deal, proposing the return of all 252 deported Venezuelans in exchange for the release of the same number from your reported thousands of political detainees.” Bukele also included around 50 other foreign prisoners, including U.S. citizens, in the proposed exchange.

Recently, the U.S. deported over 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, labeling them as affiliates of the Tren de Aragua criminal outfit. The U.S. compensates El Salvador for holding these deportees in a high-security facility known as the Terrorism Confinement Center.

Bukele, who describes himself as “the world’s coolest dictator,” secured a re-election last year, bolstered by a popular campaign against gang violence. On the other side, Maduro has criticized the U.S. actions, describing the deportations to El Salvador as human rights “kidnapping” and a “massive abuse.”

Since President Donald Trump took office, his strict immigration policies have met numerous legal challenges. In a recent legal twist, the U.S. Supreme Court mandated a pause on the deportation process for another group of purported Venezuelan gang members.

The White House has dismissed lawsuits against mass deportations under the law as “meritless.” Trump has utilized the rarely-employed 1798 Alien Enemies Act, allowing the president to detain and deport individuals from “enemy” nations without standard legal proceedings, a measure previously enacted only during wartime.