Salvadoran president proposes trading U.S.-deported Venezuelans with Maduro for detained countrymen.
Fresh Take:
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele threw down a potential game-changer in his ongoing diplomatic dance with Venezuela. He's suggesting a prisoner swap between the two nations—offering to repatriate a bunch of Venezuelans who were booted out of the US and currently locked up here, in exchange for Venezuelan "political prisoners."
In a casual DM on social media, Bukele put his plan out there for President Maduro to chew on: "I'll trade 252 Venezuelans sitting in my mega prison for 252 political prisoners of yours. Our detainees have spent time behind bars for various crimes: murder, rape, multiple arrests pre-deportation...Yours? Not guilty of anything except opposing you and your electoral shenanigans."
The US and El Salvador say most of the people stuck in El Salvador's Cecot prison are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 Salvadoran gang. However, officials haven't produced much evidence to show these inmates are actually associated with those criminal outfits.
Maduro, on the other hand, calls the deportation of these mostly Venezuelan migrants a "kidnapping." He insists they're not criminals and backs demands for their return.
Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, responded to Bukele's proposal by asking for a list of all the Venezuelans in Cecot and accused El Salvador's government of violating human rights by holding their citizens in a maximum security facility.
Bukele named a few of the political prisoners he'd like to see released: Rafael Tudares, son-in-law of exiled opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, and Corina Parisca de Machado, mother of Venezuelan opposition leader Mariá Corina Machado, who Bukele claims is face political heat.
Not done yet, Bukele also proposed swapping four political leaders holed up in the Argentine Embassy in Venezuela for more than a year. They're accused of terrorist activities and treason for working with Machado, but she insists they're innocent.
Some of these embassy-squatters have told CNN they're under siege by Venezuelan security forces, with checkpoints set up to control who enters and leaves the building, but not actually breaching the embassy itself.
Other folks Bukele wants to chuck into the mix are journalist Roland Carreño, lawyer and activist Rocío San Miguel, and nearly 50 citizens from other countries, including the US.
All of this follows increased scrutiny of Bukele's enthusiasm to take in hundreds of migrants the Trump administration claims are gang members or violent criminals.
A charismatic leader in the region, Bukele has earned himself the title of "the world's coolest dictator" and the "philosopher king," as he scales back civil liberties to take aim at his country's gangs. This has rubbed some international human rights organizations the wrong way, who claim there's a lot of abuse to be found in his crackdown on crime. But it's won him support inside El Salvador; Bukele cruised to reelection last year with a landslide victory.
Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
- The Americas have been witnessing the proposed prisoner swap between the governments of El Salvador and Venezuela, initiated by President Nayib Bukele.
- The world is following the potential game-changer arising from the diplomatic dance between the two South American nations.
- Venezuelans currently detained in El Salvador's maximum security facility, Cecot prison, may be repatriated as a part of the prisoner swap, amid allegations of being associated with criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
- The exchange would involve the release of 252 Venezuelan "political prisoners" by the Maduro government in response.
- General news, crime and justice, politics, policy and legislation, and human rights organizations are closely monitoring the situation, as concerns about abuses during the crackdown on crime in El Salvador rise.
- Migration, war-and-conflicts, and foreign relations elements also play a significant role in understanding the implications of this proposed prisoner exchange.
