CONVICTED KILLER AMONG AMERICANS FREED IN VENEZUELA PRISONER SWAP

An Emirati Magazine publication – Released on July 25,2025 | www.emiratimagazine.com

One of the ten Americans released from Venezuela in a recent prisoner swap was a convicted killer, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, officials from Spain and Venezuela confirmed. Ortiz, 54, was found guilty of murdering three people in a Madrid law office in 2016. Seeking a specific lawyer who wasn’t present, he fatally stabbed two female staffers and a client. Arrested in Venezuela two years later, Ortiz was never extradited to Spain and was sentenced there on January 9, 2024.

Despite being aware of his conviction, U.S. officials included him in the exchange. The swap involved freeing 10 Americans in return for more than 200 Venezuelan migrants who were deported from the U.S. and sent to a high-security prison in El Salvador. Ortiz was not classified by Washington as “wrongfully detained,” unlike eight others. However, U.S. officials said the primary goal was rescuing citizens from Venezuela’s harsh prison conditions—even if that included a convicted killer.