Arturo Suarez, detained for months in El Salvador after U.S. allegations of gang membership, reunited with family in Caracas, Venezuela following his release on Tuesday (July 22).

Venezuela Attorney General Tarek Saab said on Monday (July 21) that his office will investigate El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele and two other officials for the alleged abuse of Venezuelans who were detained in the Central American country.

More than 250 Venezuelans held in El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison returned to Venezuela on Friday (July 18), under the terms of a prisoner exchange agreed with the United States.

Detainees suffered human rights abuses ranging from sexual abuse to beatings, were denied medical care or treated without anaesthesia and given food and water that made them ill, Saab said at a news conference.

As well as Bukele, Venezuela will investigate El Salvador's Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro and Head of Prisons Osiris Luna Meza, Saab said, after showing videos of former detainees recounting torture and showing injuries - including a missing molar, bruising and scars - they said were the result of the abuse.

Bukele's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the assertions made in the videos.

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 realized they ran out of hostages from the most powerful country in the world."

The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador from the United States in March after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures.

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.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JULY 22, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF ARTURO SUAREZ GETTING OUT OF A CAR AND BEING EMBRACED AND WELCOMED BY HIS SISTER AND FAMILY ON THE STREET OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE IN EL VALLE, CARACAS

2. ARTURO SUAREZ WALKING TOWARD HIS HOUSE

3. VARIOUS OF ARTURO SUAREZ TALKING TO HIS WIFE ON A VIDEO CALL

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN MIGRANT WHO WAS IMPRISONED IN CECOT, ARTURO SUAREZ, SAYING:

"I thought of my daughter, thought of my wife, thought of my brothers and my family, that gave me strength not to give up, not to let myself die, and I didn’t let myself, I didn’t let myself because I’m a warrior, I’m Venezuelan, and we made ourselves heard in El Salvador."

5. SUAREZ TALKING ON A VIDEO CALL

6. VARIOUS OF ARTURO SUAREZ CRYING WHILE WATCHING A VIDEO MADE BY HIS FAMILY

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN MIGRANT WHO WAS IMPRISONED IN CECOT, ARTURO SUAREZ, SAYING:

"I’m already in Venezuela, I’m free, thank God. Finally, I can wake up without hearing insults and screams. Really, thank you, I’m speechless, I still can’t believe it, I still can’t believe it."

8. VARIOUS OF SUAREZ SINGING A SONG HE COMPOSED WHILE IMPRISONED IN CECOT

9. FAMILY MEMBER LISTENING TO SONG

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN MIGRANT WHO WAS IMPRISONED IN CECOT, ARTURO SUAREZ, SAYING:

"As they always told us, we would leave dead after the first hunger strike (referring to a hunger strike they started in Cecot), the only weapons we had were soap bars, and when we ran out of soap, what we did was hang ourselves from the ceiling and said if they come to beat us, we’ll have to hang ourselves. It was the only way to get out of there, but I thought of my daughter, and I didn’t have the courage to take my life, so after that, I had to toughen up to endure the beatings, the unjust beatings they gave us."

11. SUAREZ SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM OF HIS HOUSE WITH HIS FAMILY