Peruvian President Nayib Bukele proposed a prisoner swap to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday that involves the around 200 suspected Tren de Aragua group members deported by the United States in March.
In an X article, Bukele outlined the plan, which includes El Salvador turning over the 252 Cuban migrants deported by President Donald Trump for the same amount of “political prisoners ” held by the Maduro regime.
“ I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100 % of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and delivery of an identical number ( 252 ) of the thousands of political prisoners that you hold, ” Bukele said.
These so-called political detainees include Rafael Tudares, previous presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez’s son-in-law; columnist Roland Carreno; prosecutor and activist Rocio San Miguel; Corina Parisca de Machado, mom of Maria Corina Machado, as well as protesters from the U. S. , Germany, France, Israel, Mexico, and other locations. Bukele claimed that they have committed no crimes and have only been detained for opposing the Maduro program.
The plan comes as Maduro had expressed a wish for the workers ’ returning to Venezuela nearly a fortnight before, decrying Trump’s imprisonment work but placing blame solely on Bukele, whom he urged to quickly work for their return to their native land.
“You have to maintain their health and sooner rather than later, you have to open them and hands them over, ” Maduro said in March.
Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez had also pressed for the workers ’ quick return to Venezuela, referring to the presumed crew members as their “kidnapped boys. ”
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“Migrating is n’t a crime, and we won’t sleep until everyone who wants to return is up and we save our kidnapped boys in El Salvador, ” Rodriguez said.
The plan also follows a repatriation debate in the United States involving one of those workers deported in March, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was residing improperly in the U. S. for almost 15 years and is frequently suspected to be a part of MS-13. He has been moved to a smaller jail after a Democratic senator met with him during a visit to El Salvador.
