Venezuela to probe El Salvador's Bukele for ‘torture' of US deportees
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab made the announcement in Caracas on Monday, as he presented photos and testimonies of some of the men, who said they were beaten, sexually abused and fed rotten food while inside a notorious El Salvador prison.
Others were denied medical care or treated without anaesthesia, Saab said, urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Human Rights Council to act.
The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador from the US in March, after US President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without due process.
The deportations drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and a legal battle with the Trump administration. Family members and lawyers of many of the men deny they had gang ties.
Prisoner swap
The former detainees arrived near Caracas on Friday following their release in El Salvador, in exchange for 10 US citizens and political prisoners held in Venezuela.
Saab said the prosecutor's office was interviewing the returned migrants. Some of the former detainees have since reunited with their families, but they have not yet returned to their own homes.
Several had bruises on their bodies, marks of being shot with rubber bullets, and one had a split lip.
Andry Hernandez Romero, a 32-year-old beautician among those sent to El Salvador, said he barely survived the ordeal.
'We were going through torture, physical aggressions, psychological aggressions,' he said in a video presented by Saab. 'I was sexually abused.'
Others spoke of being held in 'inhuman cells', deprived of sunlight and ventilation, and given rotten food and unsafe drinking water while in the El Salvador prison.
The men had no access to lawyers or their relatives, and the last time many of them were seen was when Bukele's government issued photos of them arriving at the prison shackled and with their heads shorn.
Apart from Bukele, Venezuela will investigate El Salvador's Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro and Head of Prisons Osiris Luna Meza, Saab said.
Bukele's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the media. Late on Monday, Bukele posted about the return on social media but did not comment on the abuse allegations.
'The Maduro regime was satisfied with the swap deal; that's why they accepted it,' he said on X. 'Now they scream their outrage, not because they disagree with the deal but because they just realised they ran out of hostages from the most powerful country in the world.'
President Nicolas Maduro, on his TV show on Monday, claimed Bukele had tried 'last minute' to prevent the migrants from leaving.
'You could not stop the first plane, but for the second plane he put some car on the runway … to provoke either an accident or prevent them from leaving,' he said.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado labelled the process as an 'exchange of prisoners of war' during a television interview on Monday.
Venezuela itself faces an investigation by the ICC in The Hague, with similar allegations of torturing prisoners and denying them access to legal representation of political prisoners.
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Activists and human rights groups have accused United States President Donald Trump of using African countries as a 'dumping ground' for criminals he wants to deport after five men were deported from the US to the tiny kingdom of Eswatini. On July 16, a deportation flight carrying five men from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen, all of whom have been convicted of crimes in the US, landed in Eswatini, the last African country governed by a monarch with absolute power. The deportations were part of Trump's 'third country' plan to deport people whose own countries are unwilling to take them back. Eswatini is the second African nation that the US has deported criminals to. Also this month, Washington said it had sent eight 'uniquely barbaric monsters' to conflict-torn South Sudan. Last month, the US Supreme Court allowed the deportations of foreign nationals to unrelated third countries. 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NEW: a safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed— This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back. These depraved monsters have been terrorizing American communities but thanks to @POTUS… — Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) July 16, 2025 Without sharing their names, McLaughlin confirmed the five were nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen. She said all were convicted criminals – including for offences of child rape, murder, robbery, gang ties and homicides – and had been given prison sentences as long as 25 years. What agreement has the Trump administration made with Eswatini? Trump rode to victory in last year's presidential election on the back of a campaign with mass deportations as its centrepiece. Since then, the Trump administration has been negotiating a third-country deportation agreement with several nations, including Eswatini, which will allow it to deport foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes who have been rejected by their home countries. While the exact terms remain classified, the agreement between Eswatini and the US reportedly emerged after 'months of robust high-level engagements', the kingdom's acting spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said. Mdluli also said the kingdom would collaborate with the White House and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 'to facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin'. However, 'there are no timelines at present' for their repatriation, she told CNN in an interview. Daniel Akech, a senior analyst for South Sudan at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that some African governments are agreeing to receive convicted deportees as a 'goodwill gesture, aiming to improve US ties and be in [Trump's] good books'. But he said they have also 'implicitly dismissed human rights concerns and the lack of transparency on how third nationals' safety is ensured'. Akech said the African Union and the United Nations could partner with receiving countries to monitor the process of US deportations 'to ensure that the deportees are protected and their living conditions are good'. 'The areas where these deportees stay could face conflicts, and this would require plans on how to ensure their safety or safe transfer within the country or outside,' Akech said. What do we know about Eswatini? The mountainous Southern African kingdom is a tiny landlocked nation bordering South Africa and Mozambique and is one of a handful of countries that are still absolute monarchies with absolute power residing with the king, currently King Mswati III. Under British colonial rule, which ended in 1968, the country was known as Swaziland. It was renamed by the king in 2018. Mswati has ruled Eswatini since 1986 when he turned 18, succeeding his father, Sobhuza II, who died in 1982. Now aged 57, Mswati has been criticised for suppressing political dissent. The World Bank said more than half of Eswatini's 1.2 million people live on less than $4 a day. The king is reported to have 11 wives, and his wealth is estimated at $200m to $500m, according to an Associated Press report. Eswatini's economy is dominated by agriculture and small-scale manufacturing as well as its sugar sector, which accounts for a substantial share of its export revenues. The country is one of Africa's largest sugar producers, exporting roughly $477m of sugar and sugar-related products in 2023 – about 23 percent of its total exports. What do people in Eswatini think about Trump's deportation plan? Regional leaders and activists said there is a good deal of anger about it. Dludlu described the 'dumping' of convicted criminals as 'distasteful and fraudulent conduct by His Majesty and his government in the face of the unprecedented public healthcare crisis' in the country. 'This is attracting indignation from Emaswati for naked abuse of their sovereignty and territorial integrity as a nation and people,' Dludlu told Al Jazeera. He said PUDEMO and its supporters demand that the government and the US 'reverse this absurd and illegal yet irrational decision to take criminals from the US when other nations seek fair trade, quality education and other meaningful exchanges'. Dludlu further noted that the incoming deportees will only add to the 'overcrowded prison facilities that are poorly run [in] dilapidated and outdated infrastructure'. Figures show that prisons in Eswatini operate at more than 170 percent of their capacity. Civil society groups – including the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, the Swaziland Rural Women's Assembly and other regional NGOs – have threatened legal proceedings against the Eswatini government over its acceptance of the five convicted criminals. They argued that the detentions violate Eswatini's own Correctional Services Act and other domestic laws and said there is no lawful basis for imprisoning foreign nationals who lack legal ties to the country. Chris Ogunmodede, a foreign affairs analyst familiar with African diplomatic circles, said there are several questions hovering over the agreement made with the Trump administration. These range from the legal justification used to authorise the deportees' transfers, whether the men were informed and given consular access, the duration of their detentions and the terms of the arrangement with the US. He added that Eswatini and South Sudan are 'smaller economies with no geopolitical weight' on which White House officials could easily 'impose their will'. What does the Eswatini government say? In a public statement, Mdluli said the government assured the people of the kingdom that the arrival of five third-country deportees from the US 'poses no security threat to the Nation'. It stated that the five prisoners would be housed in correctional facilities within isolated units 'where similar offenders are kept'. Addressing the bilateral discussions with the White House, she said the 'engagements considered every avenue, including rigorous risk assessments and careful consideration for the safety and security of citizens'. Which other African nations does Trump hope to negotiate deportation deals with? In addition to Eswatini and South Sudan, Trump has discussed third-country deportation deals with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon during a summit at the White House this month. Trump reportedly discussed migration, including the need for countries to accept the return of their nationals who do not have the right to stay in the US and the possibility of accepting deported citizens of third countries. Tom Homan, Trump's border tsar, said the Trump administration hoped to forge deals with 'many countries' to accept deported migrants. 'If there is a significant public threat or national security threat, there's one thing for sure: They're not walking the streets of this country. We'll find a third, safe nation to send them to, and we're doing it,' he said. Rwanda has confirmed it is in talks with the Trump administration for a similar deal while Nigeria said it had rejected pressure to make an agreement. Which other countries have considered a third-country deportation policy? United Kingdom The UK has explored third-country deportation policies as part of its efforts to manage irregular migration and asylum claims. Under the previous Conservative government, the UK partnered with Rwanda in 2022 and planned to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing with the UK committing 370 million pounds ($497m) in development funding over five years in exchange. The plan was first struck down by the UK Supreme Court in November 2023 for violating international human rights norms, given Rwanda's inadequate asylum system and human rights concerns. In response, the government enacted the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, which declared Rwanda a 'safe country' and limited legal challenges to the policy. After the Labour Party's victory in the July 2024 elections, Prime Minister Keir Starmer swiftly terminated the Rwanda scheme. However, in May, Starmer said he was talking to 'a number of countries' about 'return hubs', where undocumented immigrants could be sent. Israel Similarly, Israel implemented a third-country deportation arrangement targeting African asylum seekers by sending them to countries like Rwanda and Uganda from 2013 to 2018. The government offered $3,500 per person to those agreeing to leave. In 2018, however, Israel's Supreme Court in effect dismantled the policy, ruling it unlawful in part due to the receiving countries' failure to guarantee protections and uphold international obligations under the Refugee Convention. Ogunmodede said the UK's and Israel's deals with African nations amounted to the 'outsourcing of the migration problem'. He added that now, the US under the Trump administration is 'using a carrot and stick approach to getting countries around the world to comply with the things that they want'.
