Venezuela releases at least two imprisoned Americans after rare trip by U.S. officials
Venezuela releases at least two imprisoned Americans after rare trip by U.S. officials
By Ana Vanessa Herrero and Samantha Schmidt at the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/08/venezuela-imprisoned-americans-citgo6-gustavo-cardenas/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert&wpmk=1&wpisrc=al_world__alert-world--alert-national&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2ZmY3NGM5YmJjMGY1N2ZlZjc3NjQwIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vd29ybGQvMjAyMi8wMy8wOC92ZW5lenVlbGEtaW1wcmlzb25lZC1hbWVyaWNhbnMtY2l0Z282LWd1c3Rhdm8tY2FyZGVuYXMvP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9YWxlcnQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUmbG9jYXRpb249YWxlcnQmd3Btaz0xJndwaXNyYz1hbF93b3JsZF9fYWxlcnQtd29ybGQtLWFsZXJ0LW5hdGlvbmFsIn0.-JzB8GSFaF_upvWhFsrCnHjuY9wEmVa7HE-gDhSbwtA
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The Venezuelan government has released at least two Americans detained in the country for years, according to five people with knowledge of the situation, days after a U.S. delegation made a rare trip to the socialist state.
Among those released on Tuesday was Gustavo Cárdenas, one of the six executives of Citgo Petroleum Corp. who were arrested during a business trip to Caracas in November 2017 and later charged with corruption. The other was Jorge Alberto Fernández, a tourist who was detained and accused of terrorism for flying a drone early last year, according to a human rights defender in Venezuela with knowledge of the case who asked for anonymity to discuss the ongoing developments.
The conditions of the release of the two U.S. citizens were not immediately clear. State Department officials declined to comment.
The release comes after a group of senior U.S. officials traveled to Caracas on Saturday for a meeting with President Nicolás Maduro to discuss the possibility of easing sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports as the Biden administration weighed banning imports of Russian oil. The delegation also called for the release of imprisoned Americans, including the “Citgo 6," two former Green Berets who were accused in a plot to remove Maduro, and a former marine who was arrested while traveling along the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
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