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Maduro Rejects Bukele’s Migrant-for-Prisoner Swap Proposal

Venezuelan families and rights groups criticize Bukele’s plan as exploitative, while Maduro demands unconditional release of detainees in El Salvador.

Overview

  • President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador proposed exchanging 252 Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador for political prisoners held by Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela.
  • Maduro formally rejected the proposal, calling it cynical and demanding the unconditional release of the detained Venezuelans instead.
  • Families of detained Venezuelan migrants condemned the proposal, accusing Bukele of treating their loved ones as political bargaining chips.
  • Rights organizations criticized the plan as a propaganda tactic, highlighting harsh prison conditions and the lack of due process for many detainees.
  • The deportations to El Salvador, carried out by the Trump administration under the Alien Enemies Act, have faced legal and human rights scrutiny due to insufficient evidence of criminality among those deported.