El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has proposed a deal to send 252 Venezuelans deported from the US and imprisoned in his country to Venezuela, in exchange for taking "political prisoners" held by Venezuela.

In a post on X, Bukele asked that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday hand over 252 "of the political prisoners you are holding," under his proposed deal.

The Salvadoran leader did not say whether the prisoners would be incarcerated again upon the exchange.

Among those Bukele proposed for release from Venezuela were journalist Roland Carreno, human rights lawyer Rocio San Miguel and Corina Parisca de Machado, mother of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, whom he said is subjected to daily threats at her home.

He also mentioned nearly 50 detainees of other nationalities, including US, German and French citizens, as part of the proposed exchange.

Deportations

​Last month, the administration of President Donald Trump deported at least 200 Venezuelans from the United States to El Salvador, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.

The US is paying El Salvador $6 million to detain the migrants in its high-security Terrorism Confinement Center.

The Venezuelan government has said it has no political prisoners and that imprisoned people have been convicted of crimes. However, some rights groups claim more than 800 people are detained for political reasons.

The Venezuelan government has also denied that the Venezuelans deported by the U.S. have gang affiliations, and lawyers and family members of the detainees have asserted that the migrants have no ties to criminal groups.

On Saturday, the US Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting another group of Venezuelan migrants accused of gang ties under a rarely used wartime law.