Six Americans imprisoned in Venezuela freed following high-level meeting

Six American citizens who had been detained in Venezuela were released following a meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and Richard Grenell, a senior U.S. official, as stated by the Trump administration.

“We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens,” he wrote. “They just spoke to [President Donald Trump] and they couldn’t stop thanking him.”

Grenell did not disclose the identities of the former detainees. His brief trip to Venezuela primarily focused on two main issues: Trump’s initiatives to repatriate Venezuelans back to their country, where they are currently not accepted, and securing the release of detained Americans, according to White House officials.

“Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela. Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!” he wrote.

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Trump clarified to reporters on Friday that the meeting with the Venezuelan leader was not meant to lend credibility to the Maduro presidency, which is not accepted by the United States and several other nations.

“We want to do something with Venezuela. I’ve been a very big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro,” the president said.

“They’ve treated us not so good, but they’ve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly.”

Grenell, who previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence under Trump, met with the Venezuelan leader shortly after the start of his third term in office. His opponent, Edmundo González, and supporters claim that tally sheets from the country’s last election indicate that Maduro lost by a significant margin.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s special envoy to Latin America, provided context for Grenell’s visit during a conference call with journalists, noting that Grenell was in Venezuela on a “very specific mission” that aligns with the Trump administration’s objective of restoring democracy in the South American country.

Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy to Venezuela and Iran during the first Trump administration, criticized the timing of the meeting as “terrible.”

“A meeting with Maduro will be used by him to legitimize his rule and show that the Americans recognize him as president. If the purpose is to deliver a tough message about migration issues, the president could’ve done that himself. There was no need to send someone to Caracas,” Abrams said.

The controversy surrounding Venezuela’s election results sparked nationwide protests last year, resulting in more than 2,200 arrests during and after the demonstrations. Among those detained were up to 10 Americans, including a Navy SEAL, who were accused of planning to destabilize the country.

The Trump administration has recently taken multiple actions to fulfill promises to crack down on illegal immigration, including reversing a decision by the Biden administration that would have shielded approximately 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation.

The ongoing crisis in Venezuela has prompted over 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee since 2013, when the economy began to unravel and Maduro assumed office. While most initially settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, the aftermath of the pandemic has led to an increase in migration to the United States.

A nationwide poll conducted by Venezuela-based research firm Delphos before last year’s presidential election revealed that about a quarter of the population was contemplating emigrating if Maduro was reelected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.