In a post on X, addressed to Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, Bukele writes that the 252 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador can be sent home. In exchange, he wants an equal number of political prisoners in Venezuela to be released.
Bukele claims that many of the deported Venezuelans have committed "rape and murder" while the prisoners of conscience in the country are only guilty of having a different political opinion than Maduro, whose re-election last year was disputed.
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The Salvadoran leader lists a number of journalists, activists, and family members of opposition politicians in Venezuela who were imprisoned after the election.
"The only reason they are imprisoned is because they opposed you and your electoral fraud", he writes.
El Salvador's President Bukele calls the deal a "humanitarian agreement".
But Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek Wiliam Saab rejects the proposal and calls Bukele's statements "cynical". He has demanded to know what crimes the deported individuals are accused of, whether they have appeared in court, and whether they have received legal assistance, according to BBC.
The authoritarian and socialist Venezuela claims that it does not hold any political prisoners, something that human rights groups have disputed.
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Right-wing populist Bukele, on the other hand, calls himself "the world's coolest dictator". His tough stance on gang crime is popular. Last year, he was re-elected as president and his party New Ideas (NI) has a majority in parliament.
El Salvador has been internationally criticized for accepting Venezuelans and Salvadorans deported by Donald Trump's administration in the USA, following allegations that they were gang members. In El Salvador, they have been locked up in notorious high-security prisons.
