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4d ago

Rubio Reportedly Agreed to Return MS-13 Informants in Deal Granting U.S. Access to El Salvador’s CECOT Prison

The Washington Post says the March arrangement required ending Justice Department protections for some cooperators, a move critics warn undercuts U.S. investigations.

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) meets with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele at his residence at Lake Coatepeque in El Congo municipality, El Salvador, on February 3, 2025.
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Overview

  • On a March 13 call, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to President Nayib Bukele that the U.S. would hand over nine MS-13 members in custody, some identified in reporting as confidential informants.
  • Rubio told Bukele that Attorney General Pam Bondi would terminate Justice Department agreements shielding those informants so they could be transferred, according to the accounts.
  • César López-Larios, a charged MS-13 suspect, was sent to El Salvador two days after the call, while the other requested men remain in the U.S. with some facing court-ordered holds on removal.
  • The arrangement enabled the March transfer of more than 250 Venezuelan deportees to CECOT, a prison widely criticized for abuse, before a July swap returned those men to Venezuela and brought some Americans home.
  • Former investigators and rights advocates call the move a betrayal that risks informant safety and U.S. credibility, with the revelations based largely on anonymous officials and lawyers cited by The Washington Post.