Overview
- President Trump employed wartime powers to facilitate an exchange that freed ten Americans from Venezuela and sent 252 Venezuelan prisoners to El Salvador.
- Ortiz was tried in Caracas after Venezuela rejected Spain’s extradition request and received a 30-year sentence last year for the 2016 killings of two paralegals and a client in a Madrid law office.
- Victims’ lawyer Víctor Joel Salas and the families have demanded that Spain and U.S. authorities pursue legal remedies and protective measures in response to Ortiz’s release.
- Ortiz served 17 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, earned combat honors in Iraq and was later court-martialed for falsifying documents to secure promotions.
- Since landing at a military airfield near San Antonio on July 25, Ortiz’s exact whereabouts have been unknown, raising concerns over oversight and public safety.