President Donald Trump did a prisoner swap last week in which he returned 250 Venezuelan migrants back to their country in exchange for a swap of 10 Americans who were in that nation's prisons.
New reports claimed one of those Americans have been convicted of killing three people in an horrific ax attack in which he slit their throats.
Dahud Hanid Ortiz arrived in Texas on Friday waving an American flag, El País reported Tuesday. It confirmed the man's identity with a source close to the Spanish secret service and another from the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, which helps aid political prisoners.
The organization made it clear one of the Americans released was not a political prisoner but a convicted killer.
The report said that Ortiz obtained his official U.S. citizenship and then served in the Iraq War. The murders took place in 2016 in Madrid, but he fled to Venezuela, where he remained free until 2018. In 2024, he was sentenced in that country to 30 years in prison for the crimes.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio celebrated Ortiz and the other men in a statement, saying, “Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.” Rubio cheered President Donald Trump for securing their “freedom."
The State Department didn't respond to questions from El País about Ortiz.
The report cited Venezuelan Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello, who quipped, “We handed over some murderers for you.”
Ortiz's ex-wife spoke to a German publication and said she was assured that “the competent authorities are currently evaluating the inclusion of this person in the police information system, in order to ensure that he cannot enter ... Germany.”
She believes there is "well-founded suspicion" that Ortiz's lawyer gave false information about Ortiz, painting him as a political prisoner or even a U.S. spy with the intention of securing a release back to the U.S.
Reporters have not yet asked Trump to comment on the matter.
