The U.S. and Venezuelan governments conducted an unprecedented prisoner exchange on Friday (July 18), mediated by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
A total of 252 Venezuelans who had been deported from the United States in March and were being held at the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, were sent to Venezuela.
In exchange, Nicolás Maduro’s government released ten American citizens detained in Venezuela, as well as an unspecified number of Venezuelans whom Washington considers political prisoners, according to officials from both countries.
The operation was the result of weeks of negotiations between the Venezuelan and U.S. governments.
