Venezuela releases seven Americans in exchange for two nephews of Maduro's wife

MADRID, 1 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

US President Joe Biden announced this Saturday the release of seven US citizens imprisoned in Venezuela. The Americans would have been released in exchange for two nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, accused of drug trafficking.

"Today, after years of unjust imprisonment in Venezuela, we bring back Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, José Luis Zambrano, José Pereira, Matthew Heath and Osman Khan," Biden said in an official White House statement. .

According to the US news portal Politico, which cites Administration sources, the Americans have been released in exchange for the two nephews of Maduro's wife, in what would already be the largest exchange of prisoners closed by the Biden Administration.

"We are pleased and grateful to be able to bring back to their families seven Americans who were unjustly imprisoned for too long in Venezuela," said Undersecretary for Homeland Security Joshua Geltzer, quoted by Politico.

Five of these Americans are former directors of the oil company Citgo Tomeu Vadell, José Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and José Pereira, who were arrested in November 2017. Citgo, a subsidiary of the state-owned PDVSA, is controlled by the self-proclaimed president in charge of Venezuela, the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

Matthew Heath, a former Marine from Tennessee arrested in 2020 in Venezuela for alleged weapons-related crimes, has also been released. Osman Khan, originally from Florida, was arrested in January for illegally entering the country from Colombia.

In exchange, the United States has released Franqui Flores and his cousin, Efraín Campo, nieces of Cilia Flores. Both were arrested in 2015 in Haiti in a drug operation and immediately transferred to New York to stand trial. The following year they were convicted of drug trafficking offences. Now they have been amnestied by Biden.

This release would be a gesture by Maduro, who aspires to restore relations with the United States after months of secret negotiations.

At least four more Americans are still imprisoned in Venezuela, including two former 'green berets' involved in a dismantled coup attempt in 2019. The other two detainees would have entered Venezuelan territory illegally from Colombia.

As far as the United States is concerned, it keeps businessman Alex Saab imprisoned, whose release Maduro demands for considering him to be diplomatic personnel. The United States considers him to be a figurehead for the Maduro regime.