A Venezuelan American murderer and ex-US marine, who killed three people in Spain in 2016, was released to the US during last Friday’s high-profile prisoner swap between the US, El Salvador and Venezuela, according to media and NGO reports.
Dahud Hanid Ortiz, who was convicted last year in Venezuela of a triple homicide in Madrid, is one of the 10 US nationals that arrived in Texas last Friday.
“The United States welcomes home ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela,” Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said in a statement after the exchange.
“It is unacceptablhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/ex-marine-released-prisoner-swap-deale that Venezuelan regime representatives arrested and jailed US nationals under highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process. Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.”
Ortiz had been tried, convicted and sentenced last year in Venezuela of the murders. The White House did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment by time of publication.
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