BURSTThe Trump administration announced Friday it helped facilitate a prisoner swap, securing the release of 10 U.S. citizens held in Venezuela in exchange for the return of more than 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. had sent to be imprisoned in El Salvador.
The Venezuelan men have spent months in El Salvador’s most notorious prison, known by its Spanish acronym CECOT, after the Trump administration ignited the Alien Enemies Act to deport them in March. It is unclear what fate awaits them in Venezuela.
In exchange, the Venezuelan government released all U.S. residents held by the Maduro regime.
“It is unacceptable that Venezuelan regime representatives arrested and jailed U.S. nationals under highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process. Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
While the Trump administration has accused the Venezuelan men it deported under the rarely used wartime authorities of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, the evidence appeared to be slim.
Many of the accusations rested on tattoos, and among the men sent to CECOT were those who had tattoos that were references to autism and football teams.
The U.S. had agreed to pay the Salvadoran government millions to house the men.
“This operation is the result of months of negotiations with a tyrannical regime that had long refused to release one of its most valuable bargaining chips: its hostages,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wrote on social platform X.
“However, thanks to the tireless efforts of many officials from both the United States and El Salvador, and above all, thanks to Almighty God, it was achieved.”
Under the deal, Venezuelan political prisoners were also released, but neither U.S. nor Salvadoran authorities made clear the number of those released nor where they would reside.
“We also welcome the release of Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees that were also released from Venezuelan prisons. … The regime’s use of unjust detention as a tool of political repression must end. We reiterate our call for the unconditional release of remaining unjustly and arbitrarily detained political prisoners and foreign nationals,” Rubio said.
DEVELOPING