Seven Americans and two Venezuelans released in prisoner swap
- Five of the seven freed Americans were executives of the Citgo oil corporation, detained in 2017 while on a business trip to Venezuela and accused of corruption
- The two released Venezuelans are nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s wife. They were arrested in 2015 and jailed on drug convictions
Venezuela on Saturday freed seven Americans, including five oil executives, in exchange for two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro jailed in the United States on drug convictions, US officials said.
The swap included executives of Citgo Petroleum held for years, in addition to US Marine veteran Matthew Heath and another US citizen named Osman Khan. They were exchanged for two of Maduro’s wife’s nephews, who were arrested in 2015.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the “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,” Biden said.
The prisoner transfer, which one US 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 US sanctions, including on the OPEC nation’s energy sector.
It came at a time when Washington is under growing pressure to do more to secure freedom for dozens of Americans held abroad. Much of the Biden administration’s focus has been on Russia’s detention of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan.
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 US citizens who were subject to Venezuelan court proceedings and were released for “humanitarian reasons.”