Venezuela Frees 10 US Citizens in Exchange for Deported Nationals

The governments of the United States and El Salvador announced Friday they have facilitated a prisoner swap, securing the release of 10 U.S. citizens held in Venezuela in exchange for the return of more than 250 Venezuelan men who had been deported from the United States and imprisoned in El Salvador.

“Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X, noting that many of them face multiple charges related to violent crimes.

In addition to the American citizens, the swap also included “a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners” who had been imprisoned for years by the regime of Nicolás Maduro, Bukele added.

The operation was the result of “months of negotiations” involving both U.S. and Salvadoran officials, according to Bukele, whose country currently does not have formal diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

In 2019, El Salvador expelled the Venezuelan diplomatic mission after Maduro’s highly disputed reelection, instead recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president at the time. The United States similarly does not recognize Maduro, who remains under federal indictment on narco-terrorism charges, with a $25 million reward for his arrest.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday confirmed the exchange in a separate statement.

“Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Rubio said, condemning the Maduro regime for imprisoning Americans under “highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process.”

“We also welcome the release of Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees that were also released from Venezuelan prisons,” he added. “The Trump Administration continues to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela. The regime’s use of unjust detention as a tool of political repression must end.”

The U.S. embassy in Venezuela, which is now closed, shared a photo on X on Friday of 10 men waving American flags alongside U.S. Charge d’Affaires John McNamara. A press representative said the photo was taken in Caracas.

The Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the State Department office responsible for negotiating the release of American detainees, later posted a photo of the newly released Americans inside an airplane bringing them home.

A plane carrying the freed Americans arrived late Friday evening at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas.

Among those released was Wilbert Castañeda, a former U.S. Navy SEAL.

His brother, Christian, said in a statement to The Epoch Times: “We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime.

“We knew that President Trump would not leave a decorated SEAL behind.

“We are just glad that he is out and able to receive the treatment and help he deserves, and will be able to celebrate his upcoming 38th birthday with his family in freedom.”

Christian said his brother sustained traumatic brain injuries as a result of his exposure to explosions during his military service.

“His medical condition worsened from those workplace hazards, which we believe impaired his judgment and risk mitigation. His condition led him to make a bad decision to travel to Venezuela,” Christian said.

Following Castañeda’s capture in September 2024, a military spokesperson told The Epoch Times that Castañeda was on “unapproved leave.”

Another released detainee was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter. Hunter’s family says he was kidnapped in January by Venezuelan border guards from inside Colombia, where he was vacationing.

“We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” his younger sister Sophie Hunter said.

This latest return follows an earlier repatriation of six U.S. citizens from Venezuelan custody in late January, which came after a meeting between Maduro and Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy. Grenell later confirmed that no concessions were made to secure the Americans’ release.

“I went down for the day and tried to, through diplomatic means, get the Venezuelans to pay for planes that would come up to the United States to take their citizens who are in our country illegally, who crossed the southern border illegally,” Grenell previously said in an interview with the Epoch Times.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan men have spent months in El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center, known for its Spanish acronym, CECOT. The Trump administration, on a mission to accelerate mass deportation of illegal immigrants and foreigners who have committed crimes, had agreed to pay the Salvadoran government millions to hold them there.

In March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a Founding-era law giving the president wartime authority to deport those from hostile countries. Trump accused the Maduro regime of sponsoring Tren de Aragua as a proxy to infiltrate the United States and advance its goal of “destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas.”

“Evidence irrefutably demonstrates that [Tren de Aragua] has invaded the United States and continues to invade, attempt to invade, and threaten to invade the country; perpetrated irregular warfare within the country; and used drug trafficking as a weapon against our citizens,” the U.S. president declared at that time.

It is unclear what awaits these individuals in Venezuela upon their return.

Ryan Morgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the circumstances of Wilbert Castañeda’s capture by Venezuelan authorities. The Epoch Times regrets the error.