THE office of Venezuela’s attorney general has opened an investigation into El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for alleged mistreatment and human rights violations inflicted on Venezuelan migrants.

The migrants in question spent months detained in a maximum-security prison in the Central American country after being deported by the United States.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Monday that his office had decided to launch the probe after some of the migrants informed Venezuelan authorities of the alleged mistreatment.

The investigation includes El Salvador’s Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro and prison system head Osiris Luna.

Beginning in March, more than 250 people were held in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot), which was built to hold suspects arrested as part of Mr Bukele’s war on criminal gangs.

They were released last Friday by El Salvador in exchange for 10 US nationals jailed in Venezuela and as part of a three-country arrangement.

Mr Bukele’s office failed to reply immediately to a request for comment.