International
El Salvador formalizes the proposal for the exchange of Venezuelan deportees, according to Bukele
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, reiterated on Tuesday the proposal to his counterpart Nicolás Maduro to exchange 252 Venezuelans deported by the United States for an equal number of “political prisoners”, and revealed that the proposal was formally moved through the Salvadoran Foreign Ministry.
“I reiterate our proposal, this time attaching the formal documentation sent to your Foreign Ministry,” Bukele said in a message in X, in which he shared the letter allegedly sent through diplomatic channels.
And he added: “I look forward to your response. And I hope that the Venezuelan people, and the whole world, can see clearly, if they still had any doubts, who you really are.”
The document, dated April 22, indicates that the 252 Venezuelans, accused by the United States of being members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, are “under the custody of the Salvadoran prison system” and are imprisoned in the maximum security prison Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot).
It is indicated that these people “are being prosecuted for the commission of several crimes,” without detailing them and if it is under the jurisdiction of the United States or El Salvador.
“In this sense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (of El Salvador), formally transfers a proposal for the total repatriation of the 252 detained Venezuelan citizens, conditioned on the release and delivery, by Venezuela, of an equal number (252) of persons deprived of liberty for political reasons in Venezuelan territory,” the note indicates.
He adds that this includes the release of 50 citizens of different nationalities, such as American, German, Dominican, Argentine, Bolivian, Israeli, Chilean, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Spanish, French, Guyanese, Dutch, Iranian, Italian, Lebanese, Mexican, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Ukrainian, Uruguayan, Portuguese and Czech.
“If this proposal is considered viable, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (of El Salvador) expresses that it is in a position to enable the necessary channels to technically coordinate the mechanisms for the implementation of this operation, guaranteeing its effective and safe execution,” underlines the letter.
Bukele also questioned Maduro in that message in X: “Did you think an exchange of 30 for 1 was fair, but now you reject an equitable proposal of 1 for 1?, Weren’t you the one who said that you would do ‘everything necessary’ to achieve the release of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador? Does it mean then that he was lying? Was the reception in Miraflores to the relatives of the detainees a simple media show?”
The Bukele Government reiterates, this time in an official document, that these people are in detainees in El Salvador, but without specifying under what regulations.
According to an analysis published by the Bloomberg portal, 90% of the more than 200 men that the US has imprisoned in El Salvador have no criminal record in the United States.
On Monday, the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, described the proposal made on Sunday by Bukele as “cynical”, while demanding a faith of life of that group of migrants, detained in the Central American nation.
The Administration of Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term after his questioned re-election, described on Tuesday as “morally inadmissible” the proposal of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to exchange the 252 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States for the same number of those considered “political prisoners” of the Caribbean country.
Through a letter sent to the Foreign Ministry of El Salvador, the Chavista Administration indicated that the proposal of “illegal exchange” and “morally inadmissible”, aims to condition the release of “innocent people to an exchange by citizens deprived of liberty in Venezuela for completely foreign causes (commission of terrible punishable acts), without legal or ethical basis”.
“Additionally taking into account that none of the detainees he mentions has Salvadoran citizenship, the majority of these being Venezuelan citizens,” he added.
He also said that Bukele’s proposal constitutes a “legal aberration, unprecedented in the context of bilateral or multilateral relations, which violates elementary principles of justice, proportionality and human dignity.”
The Venezuelan Administration again demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of the 252 migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador for allegedly belonging to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, born in a prison in the Caribbean country, and held the Salvadoran government responsible “for any affectation to their physical and psychological integrity.”
Likewise, he demanded that the Government of El Salvador give an “immediate, truthful and complete” response to a questionnaire sent by the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office), “which contains fundamental requirements for the ongoing investigation and for the guarantee of the rights of persons deprived of liberty.”
For Maduro’s Executive, this note constitutes “an express confession of serious violations of international human rights law, as well as the commission of acts that could be classified as international criminal actions,” among which he mentioned “collective criminalization and institutional xenophobia”, “denial of the right to defense, due process and access to justice”, in addition to “kidnapping and forced transfer to a third country without a judicial order or legal process.”
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
Central America4 days agoDaniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
-
Central America4 days agoHonduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
-
Central America4 days agoGuatemala transfers top gang leaders to maximum security prison after funeral home massacre
-
International4 days agoTrump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
-
Central America3 days agoCosta Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves
-
International3 days agoTrump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua
-
International3 days agoStudy finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
-
International1 day agoIsrael says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
-
International1 day agoSeven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
-
International10 hours agoU.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
-
International10 hours ago
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction