El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has proposed a controversial prisoner exchange with Venezuela, suggesting a swap of Venezuelan deportees held in El Salvador for individuals he terms "political prisoners" detained in Venezuela. Bukele's proposal, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, involves repatriating 252 Venezuelans currently held in a Salvadoran maximum-security prison in exchange for an equal number of political prisoners held by the Maduro regime.

Bukele articulated his proposal via social media, specifically addressing President Maduro. He listed several individuals, including family members of prominent Venezuelan opposition figures, journalists, and activists, who have been detained amidst what he describes as an electoral crackdown in Venezuela. Bukele asserted that these individuals are imprisoned solely for opposing Maduro and denouncing electoral fraud. He framed his offer as a "humanitarian agreement," seeking the release of 252 political prisoners in return for the repatriation of the deported Venezuelans.

Venezuela's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, responded critically to Bukele's proposal, denouncing it as "cynical" and accusing El Salvador of unlawfully detaining the Venezuelans. The backdrop to this proposal involves the United States, where the Trump administration had deported Venezuelan migrants, alleging gang ties, and controversially invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. The Trump administration also reportedly paid Bukele's government to detain accused Venezuelan gang members in El Salvador's maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center.

The US Supreme Court has intervened, temporarily halting deportations of Venezuelan migrants held in Texas, following a petition by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU argued against the deportations, asserting that the migrants were not being given due process to challenge their removal in court. Maduro has accused Bukele of complicity in "kidnapping" and demanded the repatriation of the deportees, further complicating the diplomatic tensions between the nations.