Nayib Bukele and US Secretary of State, Marco Rubioconfirmed the exchange of 252 Venezuelans who were imprisoned in a Salvadoran prisonfor 10 citizens of the United States who were under arrest in Caracas and an unexpected number of political prisoners. “We have given all Venezuelan citizens detained in our country, accused of belonging to the criminal organization Aragua Train (ADD). Many of them face multiple positions for murder, robbery, rape and other serious crimes, “said Salvadoran President. Rubio, meanwhile, thanked Bukele with his role so that the Americans who had been prosecuted for alleged crimes against national security began the” way to freedom “to his country.
The Government of Nicolás Maduro contrasted Rubio and Bukele’s stories and said that the 252 Venezuelan citizens were “Rescued” of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador. The official channel ´Telesur` pointed out that Maduro authorized this “humanitarian operation after months of diplomatic efforts headed by the Spanish former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapaterowho acted as a mediator in the negotiations between Caracas and Washington. ” “They remained kidnapped and subjected to forced disappearance in a concentration camp“Venezuela, he added,” paid a high price “to achieve the freedom of the former Migrants. Madurismo attributed the situation that these citizens crossed to” the most extremist sectors of the Venezuelan right. “
“Migrating is not a crime; kidnapping and torture migrants is a crime, And Bukele must know, “said Maduro.” They had no right to defense, they had no judge in El Salvador, they had no right to access their lawyers. They had no right to due process under any aspect. They were kidnapped. and I committed myself to their relatives and with all Venezuela that was going to rescue them healthy and savites. “
Months of negotiations
Bukele also wanted to attribute a victory and recalled his proposal from Sunday, April 20 to Maduro, materialized in the events this Friday, according to his appreciation. “As offered to the Venezuelan regime in April, we made this exchange in exchange for a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners, people that that regime had maintained in their prisons for years, as well as all US citizens who had retained.” The lawyers of the arrested expressly denied that they had relations with the Aragua train.
The operation, Bukele said, “is the result of months of negotiations with a tyrannical regime that for a long time had refused to release one of its most valuable exchange currencies: its hostages. However, thanks to the tireless effort of many officials of both the United States and El Salvador, and above all, thanks to Almighty God, It was achieved. “
At the moment it has not been informed who will be the dissidents that would recover freedom. Rumor ran in Caracas that Rafael Tudares, Roland Carreño and Rocío San Miguel would be among them.
Rubio said about it: “The Trump administration continues to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela. The use by the regime of unfair detention as a tool of political repression must end. “The Venezuelan government has been seeking a negotiation channel with Washington for months. At the moment, its results were lean.
Before knowing the novelty, a plane with 251 migrants from the United States had landed at Maiquetía International Airport. Among them are seven of the 31 children who had been kidnapped by Donald Trump’s administration for the Miraflores Palace. Maduro received them at the executive headquarters.
