{"id":157505,"date":"2025-07-19T02:30:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/10-americans-freed-in-prisoner-swap-between-u-s-el-salvador-and-venezuela-cbs-news\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T02:30:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T02:30:54","slug":"10-americans-freed-in-prisoner-swap-between-u-s-el-salvador-and-venezuela-cbs-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/10-americans-freed-in-prisoner-swap-between-u-s-el-salvador-and-venezuela-cbs-news\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Americans freed in prisoner swap between U.S., El Salvador and Venezuela &#8211; CBS News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Watch CBS News<br \/>           <time datetime=\"2025-07-18T18:09:51-0400\">Updated on:  July 18, 2025 \/ 6:09 PM EDT<\/time>           \/ CBS News         <br \/><em>Washington<\/em> &mdash; Ten Americans are en route to the U.S. after a prisoner swap involving the U.S., El Salvador and Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.<br \/>The Americans were freed from Venezuela in exchange for El Salvador returning 252 Venezuelans who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison earlier this year, senior administration officials said, alleging the released Venezuelans were members of the gang Tren de Aragua.<br \/>A former Navy SEAL, <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/venezuela-detention-sailor-american\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Wilbert Joseph Castaneda<\/a><\/span>, is among the Americans released, three sources told CBS News. Castaneda was detained in Venezuela last year while on personal travel.&nbsp;<br \/>&#8220;We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime,&#8221; Castaneda&#8217;s family said in a statement. The family said he had suffered several traumatic brain injuries during his 18 years in the Navy that &#8220;impaired his judgment and risk mitigation&#8221; and &#8220;led him to make a bad decision to travel to Venezuela.&#8221;<br \/>The U.S. has warned Americans against traveling to Venezuela or near its borders, citing the risks of wrongful detention.<br \/>&#8220;Until today, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than any other country in the world,&#8221; Rubio said in a statement that credited &#8220;President Trump&#8217;s leadership and commitment to the American people.&#8221;&nbsp;<br \/>&#8220;Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,&#8221; Rubio added.<br \/>The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/usembassyve\/status\/1946299817199653366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">photo<\/a> of the freed Americans with U.S. diplomat John McNamara.<br \/>As part of the deal, the Venezuelan government also released dozens of people who were described as Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees, a senior administration official said.<br \/>Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1946296384035918284\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wrote on X<\/a> that his country &#8220;handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua,&#8221; in exchange for &#8220;a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners &hellip; as well as all the American citizens it was holding as hostages.&#8221;<br \/>The Trump administration deported more than <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/venezuelans-deported-el-salvador-names\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">200 male Venezuelan citizens<\/a><\/span> to El Salvador in March, accusing them of being part of the transnational gang Tren De Aragua. Mr. Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to order officials to quickly deport many of the Venezuelan migrants, deeming them a threat to the U.S. The Salvadoran government has held many of the detainees in a supermax prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.<br \/>In May, the Supreme Court <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-administration-supreme-court-alien-enemies-act\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">extended a pause<\/a><\/span> on deportations of Venezuelan migrants detained in northern Texas while they challenge their removals under the wartime law.<br \/>Some of the families of the Venezuelan deportees have denied that they have gang connections, and a &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/what-records-show-about-migrants-sent-to-salvadoran-prison-60-minutes-transcript\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">investigation in April<\/a><\/span> found that most of the detainees did not have criminal convictions.<br \/>The Venezuelan government confirmed Friday&#8217;s swap, saying in a statement it &#8220;has achieved the release of the 252 Venezuelan citizens who remained kidnapped and subjected to forced disappearance in a concentration camp, known as CECOT, in the Republic of El Salvador.&#8221;<br \/>A senior administration official said the deal with El Salvador and Venezuela was &#8220;essentially down to the wire.&#8221; The flight carrying the detainees took off from Venezuela at around 3:40 p.m. ET and left Venezuelan airspace at around 3:55 p.m. The official alleged the Venezuelan government took &#8220;one last stand&#8221; by briefly delaying Friday&#8217;s swap as a &#8220;power flex.&#8221;<br \/>The prisoner swap was arranged as Venezuela faces <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/venezuela-united-states-sanctions-maduro-fair-elections-17589aed0dcab89ac1075dd041f8198d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">intense U.S. sanctions<\/a> that limit the country&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/venezuela-maduro-trump-oil-license-chevron-election-4c0357961d7978e6fbac16127b0a759e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">once-lucrative oil industry<\/a>, and came one day after the Trump administration <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/venezuelan-gang-tren-de-aragua-us-sanctions-leaders-affiliates\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">imposed sanctions<\/a><\/span> on six leaders and affiliates of Tren de Aragua. A senior administration official said Friday&#8217;s deal was &#8220;humanitarian in nature&#8221; and there was &#8220;not a discussion of sanctions whatsoever.&#8221;<br \/>Rubio credited Bukele &mdash; who has cast himself as a key ally in Mr. Trump&#8217;s deportation push &mdash; for the swap. Bukele <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1946296384035918284\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">posted on X<\/a> that his government initially proposed the swap to Venezuela&#8217;s government in April.<br \/>Ten Americans are are their way home from detention in Venezuela! Thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@POTUS<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecRubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@SecRubio<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usembassyve?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@usembassyve<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aboehler?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@aboehler<\/a> and many others for your support bringing Americans home <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0lnxkBEZ9S\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/0lnxkBEZ9S<\/a><br \/>                                                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/james-laporta\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">James  LaPorta<\/a>,                                                                                       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/charlie-dagata\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Charlie  D&#8217;Agata<\/a>,                                                                           <span class=\"byline__author__text\">S.  Dev<\/span>,                                                                                       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/camilla-schick\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Camilla  Schick<\/a>,                                                                                       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/eleanor-morgan-watson\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Eleanor  Watson<\/a>,                                                                           <span class=\"byline__author__text\">Olivia Victoria Gazis<\/span> and                                                                                       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/team\/camilo-montoya-galvez\/\" class=\"byline__author__link\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Camilo  Montoya-Galvez<\/a>                            contributed to this report.     <br \/>Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.<br \/>       &copy; 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.     <br \/>Copyright &copy;2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMid0FVX3lxTE1qUzc0el84aGFhLXhtVG9EdWFOMmtXVE9FaGhqLVFLZHFyX1g0X081WldlQlVfb2pGa0l4aEdFa0lQd3o5LVk2dEFmRXhFRzZQQld1ZFNtWVZEUVh3MlJSVWJxVjFYQnFIekFWTzdMbDFRWE0zSEZJ0gF8QVVfeXFMT0otN2lzYUhBRml3anlxMjA3eHBUMHo3YThQRG45U3psWUZUSGo3U0JCemtWUVNKLTVzTU5jek5Yb01WSzhNb0F6SC1RdENFYVh3XzQ5SkpmSDZCcG5yb0h3WTZqbzc4Ym5GUE9sSGJDZTc2Vk5zRkhjeWVQQQ?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch CBS News Updated on: July 18, 2025 \/ 6:09 PM EDT \/ CBS News Washington &mdash; Ten Americans are en route to the U.S. after a prisoner swap involving the U.S., El Salvador and Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.The Americans were freed from Venezuela in exchange for El Salvador returning 252 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}