Venezuela, U.S swap prisoners
Venezuela has released seven imprisoned Americans, including five oil executives, in exchange for two Venezuelan citizens who had been jailed in the U.S.
U.S President Joe Biden approved the exchange weeks ago, making a “tough decision, a painful decision” that the release of the two Venezuelans was essential to securing the Americans’ freedom.
The swap, which include Biden granting clemency to the two Venezuelans who U.S. authorities had dubbed the “narco nephews,” has not altered Washington’s policy toward Venezuela, a senior administration official said.
The swap includes executives of Citgo Petroleum held for years, in addition to U.S. Marine veteran Matthew Heath and another U.S. citizen named Osman Khan.
The Americans were exchanged for two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.
The five employees of Houston-based Citgo, who had been detained in Venezuela in 2017, are Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, and Jose Pereira.
Also released was Heath, a former Marine hospitalized following what his family said was a suicide attempt in June. He had been held since 2020 on terrorism charges, which he denied.
Khan was identified as a Florida man who had been arrested in January.
In return, the United States freed two of Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores’ nephews, Franqui Flores and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores.
The two, arrested in Haiti in 2015 in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation, were convicted in 2016 on U.S. charges that they tried to carry out a multimillion-dollar cocaine deal.
They were each sentenced in 2017 to 18 years in prison.
U.S President Joe Biden said in a statement: “wrongfully detained” Americans would soon be reunited with their relatives.
“Today, we celebrate that seven families will be whole once more. 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.”
A Venezuelan court in 2020 sentenced the executives, accused of embezzlement, money laundering, and conspiracy, to prison terms ranging from eight to 13 years.
They and the company maintained their innocence, and the U.S. State Department called the charges “specious.”
The prisoner swap, which one U.S. official said took place at an airport in an unspecified third country, followed months of secretive talks with Maduro’s socialist government, which is under strict U.S. sanctions, including on the OPEC nation’s energy sector.
Maduro’s government said in a statement that as a result of talks that started in March two young Venezuelans “unjustly” held in the United States were freed, as well as a group of U.S. citizens who were subject to Venezuelan court proceedings and were released for “humanitarian reasons.”
At least four other Americans are still detained in Venezuela, including two former U.S. Army Special Forces members, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were arrested in 2020 in connection with a botched raid aimed at ousting Maduro.
Zainab Sa’id
