Overview

• The swap returned 10 U.S. nationals from Venezuelan custody in exchange for more than 250 Venezuelan migrants held in El Salvador’s CECOT facility.
• Dahud Hanid Ortiz had been sentenced to 30 years by a Venezuelan court for killing three people in Madrid after Venezuela denied Spain’s extradition request under its constitution.
• Ortiz, a Venezuelan-born U.S. citizen and Purple Heart recipient, served over 17 years in the Army and was court-martialed for fraudulent conduct before fleeing to Germany and then Venezuela.
• A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. secured the release of all Americans detained in Venezuela and declined to discuss any individual case, including Ortiz’s.
• Human rights groups and Spanish officials have criticized the deal’s opacity and questioned the justice of freeing a convicted murderer alongside detainees claiming wrongful detention.