The president of El Salvador proposed to repatriate 252 Venezuelans expelled by the United States and imprisoned in his country – if Venezuela publishes the same number of political prisoners.
Nayib Bukele directly called on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an article on social networks.
He said many Venezuelan deportees had committed “rape and murder”, while the Venezuelan political prisoners were only imprisoned because they opposed Maduro, whose re -election last year is widely disputed.
Later, the chief prosecutor of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, criticized Bukele’s proposal. He asked to know what crimes the deportees were accused, which they had appeared before a judge or had access to a legal advisor.
The Venezuelan government argues that it has no political prisoners – a complaint rejected by rights groups.
In an article on X, Bukele wrote: “I want to offer you (Maduro) a humanitarian agreement calling for repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who have been expelled, in exchange for the liberation … of the identical number among the thousands of political prisoners you hold”.
He also mentioned nearly 50 prisoners of other nationalities, including American citizens, as part of the proposed exchange.
In recent weeks, more than 200 Venezuelans have been sent from the United States to Salvador.
The administration of President Donald Trump accuses them of being members of the criminal gang of Tren of Aragua.
Washington pays El Salvador to keep people deported to its famous high security terrorism confinement center.
Bukele calls himself “the coolest dictator in the world” and won the re-election last year on a wave of popularity for an anti-gang repression.
Maduro condemned the American deportation of the Venezuelans in Salvador, describing it as “kidnapping” and “massive mistreatment” of human rights.
Since its entry into office in January, Trump’s hard immigration policies have encountered a number of legal obstacles.
In the latest development, the United States Supreme Court has ordered Washington to suspend the expulsion of another group of so-called Venezuelan gang members.
The White House called the challenges to the use of the law for mass deportations “dispute without merit”.
Trump sent members of Venezuelan gangs accused under the Extraterrestrial Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the President the power to hold and expel natives or citizens of “enemy” nations without usual processes.
The act was previously used only three times, all during the war.
