![]() In the end, Saab - Venezuela considers him a diplomat and U.S. official briefed on the outreach told the AP. In exchange for freeing the nephews and insider businessman Alex Saab, Maduro was willing to release all Americans, a U.S. Embassy the Trump administration shuttered in 2019 to protest Maduro’s reelection in what was widely seen as a sham election. In July, Maduro officials upped the ante in meetings in Caracas with Carstens and Ambassador James Story, who heads the Venezuela Affairs Unit in neighboring Colombia. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, has made multiple visits to Venezuela over the last year to discuss potential deals and to meet with the detained Americans. Saturday’s swap came together quietly over several months of backchannel talks. “To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained - know that we remain dedicated to securing their release,” Biden said in his statement. has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.Īt least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets - Luke Denman and Airan Berry - involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two other men - Eyvin Hernandez and Jerrel Kenemore - who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the U.S. The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. Referring to the men only as Venezuelans “unjustly imprisoned” in the U.S., the Maduro government in a statement said it “welcomes the outcome of these talks and hopes for the preservation of peace and harmony with all the nations of our region and the world.” accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduro’s administration. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and convicted the following year in New York in a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. To facilitate a deal, Biden granted clemency for Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo, nephews of “First Combatant” Cilia Flores, as Maduro calls his wife. The State Department had regarded all the men as wrongfully detained. The prisoners arrived from their respective locations in separate planes, the Biden administration said. Vincent and Grenadines, which is ruled by an ally of Maduro, three people in Venezuela briefed on the matter told the AP on the condition of anonymity. The transfer took place Saturday in the Caribbean island of St. ![]() Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: “This is the best birthday present ever. “I can’t believe it,” Cristina Vadell, the daughter of Tomeu Vadell, one of the freed Americans, told The Associated Press on Saturday. While the White House denied any change in policy toward Venezuela is afoot, the freeing of Americans could create political space for the Biden administration to ease crippling oil sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro shows progress in on-again, off-again talks with his opponents. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents. The deal amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. officials - secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by senior U.S. WASHINGTON (AP) - In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela freed on Saturday seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.
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