El Salvador President proposes prisoner swap with Venezuela for US deportees

El Salvador's president on Sunday proposed repatriating Venezuelan detainees sent to his country from the United States in exchange for the release of prisoners by Venezuela, including key figures in the Venezuelan opposition.

"I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100 per cent 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," President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador wrote in an X post directed at President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

Since March, the US government has sent Venezuelans and Salvadorans accused of being affiliated with the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs to El Salvador, where Bukele agreed to hold convicted criminals for the United States, for a fee.

The first flights to arrive in El Salvador carried 238 Venezuelans, many of whom were found not to have criminal records. Maduro responded explosively to the detention of Venezuelans by El Salvador's government, telling Bukele not to be "an accomplice in this kidnapping."

Among the political prisoners in Venezuela named in Bukele's post were several people detained by the Maduro government in a crackdown last year.

He also said that as part of the swap, he would require Maduro to release "nearly 50 detained citizens of other nationalities," including Americans.

As of last month, at least 68 foreign passport holders were wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela, according to a Venezuelan watchdog group, Foro Penal, more than Maduro has ever held. They are detained alongside roughly 900 Venezuelan political prisoners.

The detention of critics and other politically useful figures comes as Maduro has lost support at home and abroad and has sought new forms of leverage. His goals include pushing the United States to renegotiate sanctions on his government.

"Unlike you, who holds political prisoners," Bukele wrote, "We do not have political prisoners. All the Venezuelans we have in custody were detained as part of an operation against gangs like Tren de Aragua in the United States."

Bukele said his government would send "the formal correspondence" and ended his message saying, "God bless the people of Venezuela."

As of Sunday evening, Maduro's government had not publicly responded to Bukele's proposal.