Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele received the 10 Americans exchanged on Friday between Washington and Caracas for 252 Venezuelans who had spent four months in a megaprison in El Salvador, according to a video shared by the president on social media platform X.
The Americans, whose identities have not been officially revealed, were brought to San Salvador on their way to the United States. In the video, they appear with Bukele and the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler, during a ceremony at the presidential palace.
The video also shows the Americans waving their national flags as they descend the steps of the airplane. After the ceremony, they returned to the airport and departed for the United States.
“It’s difficult to negotiate with a truly tyrannical regime, but we did it… We’ve been involved in these negotiations not only trying to free you, but also 80 political prisoners from Venezuela,” said Bukele, to applause from the Americans. Boehler, for his part, thanked Bukele for being “an unconditional friend” to President Donald Trump. At the end of the ceremony, the Americans presented their national flag as a gift to the Salvadoran president.
That same Friday afternoon, the 252 exchanged Venezuelans returned to their country after being imprisoned in El Salvador at the feared Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot). They had been accused by the Trump administration—without evidence—of belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. Bukele agreed to imprison the Venezuelans in exchange for a $6 million payment to El Salvador and kept them completely incommunicado. Their identities were also not officially disclosed.
Earlier in the day, U.S. diplomatic chief Marco Rubio and Bukele confirmed that, as part of the exchange, Venezuelan “political prisoners” were also released, though they did not name them. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he had paid a “high price” in the negotiation by trading “terrorists for innocents,” while his Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, referred to the 10 Americans as “mercenaries.”
