Families of detainees in El Salvador and Venezuela decry Bukele’s prisoner swap offer

Salvadorian president denounced as tyrannical' as he floats trading 252 prisoners with fellow authoritarian regime

The families of prisoners being held by the authoritarian governments of El Salvador and Venezuela have condemned President Nayib Bukele's offer to swap 252 Venezuelan detainees sent to his jails by the Trump administration for the same number of political prisoners incarcerated by Nicolas Maduro's regime.

Nelson Suarez, whose brother was among the Venezuelan immigrants sent from the US to a notorious maximum-security jail in El Salvador last month, said he was desperate for the release of his brother, from whom he has heard nothing in five weeks.