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
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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