A Double Dictator Prisoner Swap in the works?
Bukele offers to swap detainees at CECOT for prisoners held in Venezuela. Maduro's lieutenant expresses openness to the idea
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On Easter Sunday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered a prisoner swap with his Venezuelan counterpart. Bukele offered to release the 252 Venezuelans deported from the United States being currently held at the Terrorism Detention Center CECOT in return for an equal number of prisoners currently held by Venezuela.
As part of the message, posted to social media website X, Bukele made a series of dubious claims, including that El Salvador does not keep political prisoners, and all Venezuelans currently in detention form part of the Tren de Aragua.
The U.S. State Department, Insight Crime, and Amnesty International have all criticized the detention of political opponents during Bukele’s first term in office. And the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has admitted in multiple court filings that the majority of Venezuelans held at CECOT are not only charged with no crimes, but also have no criminal records.
The Venezuelan government also routinely arrests political opponents as well as journalists, and those publicly critical of the government. The United States and Venezuela have often engaged in prisoner swaps — most famously releasing Maduro ally Alex Saab in 2023.
The two autocratic leaders have feuded in public statements for years, and many ex-Venezuelan opposition politicians act as advisors to the Bukele government. The group, most of whom have links to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López, has been described as Bukele’s “shadow cabinet”.
In the statement posted to X, Bukele named several specific prisoners held in Venezuela that would have to be released as part of any deal, including Rafael Tudares, the son-in-law of exiled former Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González, Corina Parisca, the mother of opposition leader María Corina Machado, and Roland Carreño, a journalist arrested in 2020.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab called Bukele’s proposal “cynical” but nonetheless suggested such a deal may be possible. He called on his government to provide a complete list of the “hostages” along with “proof of life and a medical report” for each detainee.
The Venezuelan deportees detained at CECOT have received international attention in recent weeks as the Trump administration has faced increasing legal and political challenges over the deportations.
Many of those held in CECOT had active asylum processes in the U.S. requesting protection from the Maduro government, including the high-profile case of makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero.
Sunday evening, Romero’s lawyer stated that many of the detainees “are asylum seekers who were seeking protection in the US from Maduro’s regime. They are humans, not political pawns Bukele owns.”
Maduro has been sending flights to pick up Venezuelan deportees from the U.S. for the last two months as part of a deal with U.S. ambassadors in Caracas.
On Saturday April 19, the US Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to the deportations of migrants being held in Texas.
The 7–2 ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition asking the court to stop the Trump administration from proceeding with imminent deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
Pope Francis died late Sunday evening. His last speech called on world leaders not to use fear to spread hate against migrants and marginalized communities.
