Families of political prisoners in Venezuela and El Salvador have expressed outrage over President Nayib Bukele’s recent proposal to exchange 252 Venezuelan detainees for a corresponding number of political prisoners held by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. The proposal appeared on social media platform X and almost immediately drew fierce backlash. Activist groups and family members alike have roundly condemned it, arguing in very strong terms that human lives should never be used as pawns.
President Bukele’s proposal involves swapping Venezuelan detainees who were sent to El Salvador’s jails during the Trump administration. One of the critics is Adelys Ferro, a Venezuelan American activist who has long denounced Bukele’s behavior. Ferro blasted the proposal for using suffering victims to score political points. What he’s attempting to do is indeed despicable. She continued, He’s bargaining innocent Venezuelans back and forth with the Maduro dictatorship.
The Venezuelan-American Caucus — a Florida-based, bipartisan group of lawmakers — protested Bukele’s offer. Relatives of the ostensible 900 or so political prisoners in Venezuela have rightfully called into question the morality of such a swap. Instead, they say Bukele’s actions make these people into “political merchandise” not the human beings with dignity that they are. Nelson Suárez, whose brother is one of the Venezuelan immigrants now being imprisoned in El Salvador, expressed incensed bewilderment.
“Initially, they were referred to as suspected terrorists,” Suárez said. Now, they’re a pawn in a political trade. This fluctuation in how detainees are referred to is jarring.”
The Bukele administration’s initial offer was refused by Maduro’s administration, although Bukele later doubled down on his offer, describing the refusal as “cynical” and “tyrannical”. Greenpeace Mexico activist Sebastián García Casique joined the denunciation of the plan, saying it should not be an option to use human lives in exchange to negotiate. And why are you using human beings, you know, in a negotiation like they’re soccer balls.”
The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela has described Bukele’s proposal as an exploitation of victims’ pain for propaganda purposes. They contended that such steps obscure the violence suffered by innocent Venezuelans. This deprivation is felt in Venezuela and outside of it. The committee pointed out that people are being exploited and used as a political weapon. They forced people to see how this tactic removes the inhumane conditions experienced by detainees from public view.
Ferro called for liberation, not only for Venezuelan political prisoners, but for El Salvadorian immigrants captured in innocent circumstances. She stressed that negotiations can’t be a bargain where lives are traded between two authoritarian regimes.