El Salvador and Venezuela on 18 July completed a prisoner exchange in which El Salvador repatriated about 238 Venezuelans held in the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) while Venezuela freed ten Americans—five U.S. citizens and five lawful permanent residents—and transferred them to U.S. custody, according to two U.S. officials cited by Reuters. The Venezuelan detainees had been expelled from the United States in March after the Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to fast-track deportations of individuals it said belonged to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. Human-rights groups and relatives dispute the gang allegations and say the men were denied due process before being placed in CECOT, a facility criticised for its harsh conditions. Venezuela’s security services had arrested the Americans over the past year, and Washington considered several of them wrongfully detained. Their release follows months of negotiations involving Caracas, Washington and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who publicly proposed a swap in April. Neither the U.S. State Department nor the offices of Bukele and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro immediately commented on the operation’s details. U.S. officials said the deal could open space for broader humanitarian discussions, while critics noted unresolved questions about the legal status of the returned Venezuelans and the fate of other political prisoners still held in Venezuela.