The Salvadoran leader visited Trump in the White House in April, where the pair appeared friendly as they spoke to reporters, often laughing and cracking jokes together.

Bukele has backed the deportation of migrants from the United States to El Salvador’s Cecot maximum security jail.

Trump said at the time that Bukele is “really helping out” the US out by facilitating these detentions, as the Salvadoran president responded that his country is “very eager to help”.

Around the same time, Bukele first proposed swapping Venezuelan deportees for “political prisoners”, including family members of Venezuelan opposition figures, journalists and activists detained in a government electoral crackdown in 2024.

“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro on X.

“However, I propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold.”

While Maduro’s government rejected the deal, the administration official said they saw the proposal as a “critical opportunity” to potentially retrieve US nationals.

The senior administration official said that while the deal only pertained to US nationals kept in Venezuela, the Trump administration is still actively working on the release of “dozens” of political prisoners held by the Maduro government.

The US currently has no official diplomatic relations with Venezuela, on which the US has imposed heavy sanctions.

The administration official said the lifting of sanctions was not a part of the “conversation” about the prisoner swap.

The issue of deportations to El Salvador was starkly highlighted earlier this year by the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, where he alleged he was subjected to “severe beatings” and “torture” when detained in Cecot.

The Trump administration had previously alleged Mr Ábrego García – a citizen of El Salvador – was a member of the Salvadorian gang, MS-13, which his lawyers and family have strongly denied.

He was returned to the US in July to face human trafficking charges – to which he has pleaded not guilty