Bukele Proposes Deal That Would Free Deported Venezuelans

from the NYT

El Salvador’s president proposed on Sunday 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 percent 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 wrote in an X post directed at President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

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

Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, demanded the immediate release of the Venezuelans held in El Salvador late Sunday in a statement responding to Mr. Bukele. Mr. Saab didn’t say whether the Venezuelan government would consider the proposal...

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