El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele proposed a prisoner exchange with Venezuela, offering to send 252 Venezuelans deported from the US in exchange for 252 political prisoners held by Venezuela. The proposal was criticized by Venezuela's prosecutor, and Bukele called for the release of opposition figures detained during Venezuela's electoral crackdown.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele proposed a prisoner exchange with Venezuela on Sunday, suggesting that 252 Venezuelans deported from the United States and incarcerated in El Salvador be sent to Venezuela in exchange for political prisoners held by the Venezuelan government.

Bukele publicly requested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to release 252 "political prisoners" and send them to El Salvador. He did not clarify whether the prisoners would be incarcerated again after the swap.

Venezuela's chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, criticized the proposal, accusing El Salvador of unlawfully imprisoning the Venezuelans. Bukele, in response, shared the names of several opposition figures’ family members, journalists, and activists detained during Venezuela’s electoral crackdown last year. He argued that the individuals were imprisoned solely for opposing Maduro’s administration and its alleged electoral fraud.

Bukele further proposed a "humanitarian agreement" to repatriate the 252 Venezuelans deported by the US, in exchange for the release of 252 political prisoners held by the Venezuelan government.

In a related development, on Saturday, the US Supreme Court temporarily halted the Trump administration's plan to deport another group of Venezuelans accused of gang ties. The administration had been pushing the Court to reject the American Civil Liberties Union's request on behalf of the migrants.