Some deportees are leaving El Salvador’s hellish megaprison

Around 230 Venezuelans deported to and imprisoned in El Salvador’s brutal CECOT prison are being sent to Caracas, Venezuela, Daily Kos can confirm. 

In exchange, Venezuela will release five U.S. citizens and five U.S. permanent residents into custody of the American government, according to Reuters, which was the first to report the news through government sources. 

“This nightmare is finally coming to an end. Unbelievable,” Gris Vogt, a San Francisco-based education specialist for the blind who has spent the past four months assisting families of the imprisoned men, told Daily Kos. 

Since March, Vogt has worked with families in Venezuela, serving as a lifeline for their access to the American Civil Liberties Union and helping them communicate across the geopolitical gaps of Venezuela, El Salvador, and the U.S. 

At least one planeload of prisoners arrived in Caracas on Friday afternoon, she told Daily Kos.

“I’m happy for them, I’m happy for everybody,” she said. 

After this story was first published, Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele posted on X that his government has “handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country.”

On March 15, President Donald Trump deported 238 Venezuelan immigrants to the notoriously abusive CECOT prison on the flimsy claims that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. 

However, the most concrete proof that the administration has provided is that the people had tattoos that officials claimed were affiliated with the gang. Experts have cast doubt on the reliability of using tattoos to gauge gang affiliation, though. Additionally, the vast majority of the original 238 deported Venezuelan migrants have no criminal record, according to “60 Minutes.”

While around 230 Venezuelans are to be sent to their home country, the U.S. has deported over 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador. 

Daily Kos has reached out to government officials for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

As for other Venezuelan inmates without criminal convictions, their family members have been waiting months for this day to come.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele.