Overview
- 252 Venezuelans held since March in El Salvador’s CECOT prison flew to Caracas after President Bukele handed them over under terrorism allegations
- Venezuela simultaneously released 10 U.S. citizens and an unspecified number of political detainees in synchronized operations in Caracas and San Salvador
- The migrants had been deported from the United States under President Trump’s revival of the 1798 Foreign Enemies Act without formal hearings
- Spanish mediator José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and U.S. envoys overcame internal policy disputes to bridge severed U.S.-Venezuela diplomatic ties
- Human rights groups remain concerned about reports of pellet gun fire on detainees and the absence of due process during their four-month detention