El Salvador is repatriating approximately 250 detained Venezuelans in exchange for US nationals held in Venezuela, the governments of the US and El Salvador have announced.
The central American country exchanged the prisoners – migrants deported from the US and incarcerated in the notorious Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot) prison – for the release of 10 US nationals from Venezuela.
The planeload of migrants leaving El Salvador is scheduled to arrive in Maiquetía, Venezuela later on Friday.
A senior US administration official told reporters on Friday that, with the release, there are currently no longer any US nationals being held by the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
In a post on X on Friday, Salvadorean leader Nayib Bukele said: “Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TDA).”
He said the exchange was done in return “for a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners” as well as the US citizens.
In a separate post, US Secretary of State Marc Rubio confirmed the exchange and thanked Bukele and American officials.
Citing privacy concerns, US officials have so far declined to publicly identify any of the US nationals released as part of the deal.
CBS, the BBC’s US partner, has reported that one of them is former Navy Seal Wilbert Joseph Castaneda, who was detained in Venezuela last year while on a personal trip.
The Venezuelans being repatriated had originally been deported by the US under the Trump administration to El Salvador earlier this year, under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which gives a US president power to detain and deport natives or citizens of “enemy” nations without usual processes.
A senior Trump administration official told reporters on Friday that El Salvador made the “independent decision” to release the Venezuelan prisoners – which it considers to be gang members – for humanitarian reasons.
Some of the families of the Venezuelan deportees have denied that they have gang connections.
The official added that the complicated deal was “down to the wire”, and was only confirmed to reporters once the aircraft carrying the US nationals left Venezuelan airspace on Friday afternoon.
“We’re dealing with a regime in which there is always a degree of uncertainty on their side, and a degree of uncertainty on our side,” the official said. “At the end of the day, everything worked out, everything is fine and everyone is safely on their way to be reunited with their loved ones.”
Relations between Bukele and US President Donald Trump have warmed significantly in recent months, especially as Bukele had agreed to detain deported US migrants.
The exchange facilitated by El Salvador highlights that strong relationship between Trump and Bukele – the self-styled “world’s coolest dictator”.
“This deal would not have been possible without President Bukele,” the administration official said. “We extend our deep, deep gratitude.”
The Salvadoran leader visited Trump in the White House in April, where the pair appeared friendly as they spoke to reporters, often laughing and cracking jokes together.
Bukele has backed the deportation of migrants from the United States to El Salvador’s Cecot maximum security jail.
Trump said at the time that Bukele is “really helping out” the US out by facilitating these detentions, as the Salvadoran president responded that his country is “very eager to help”.
Around the same time, Bukele first proposed swapping Venezuelan deportees for “political prisoners”, including family members of Venezuelan opposition figures, journalists and activists detained in a government electoral crackdown in 2024.
“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro on X.
“However, I propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold.”
While Maduro’s government rejected the deal, the administration official said they saw the proposal as a “critical opportunity” to potentially retrieve US nationals.
The senior administration official said that while the deal only pertained to US nationals kept in Venezuela, the Trump administration is still actively working on the release of “dozens” of political prisoners held by the Maduro government.
The US currently has no official diplomatic relations with Venezuela, on which the US has imposed heavy sanctions.
The administration official said the lifting of sanctions was not a part of the “conversation” about the prisoner swap.
The issue of deportations to El Salvador was starkly highlighted earlier this year by the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, where he alleged he was subjected to “severe beatings” and “torture” when detained in Cecot.
The Trump administration had previously alleged Mr Ábrego García – a citizen of El Salvador – was a member of the Salvadorian gang, MS-13, which his lawyers and family have strongly denied.
He was returned to the US in July to face human trafficking charges – to which he has pleaded not guilty
