Blitz Bureau
WASHINGTON: Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela are heading home to the US, President Donald Trump announced, after his envoy met with the country’s President Nicolás Maduro, reports CNN.
The meeting in Caracas, first reported by CNN, was notable given Washington does not officially recognise the presidency of Maduro – who Opposition leaders in Venezuela have accused of stealing last year’s elections. US officials have not yet given details of the six detainees released, but Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Grenell posted a picture on X of himself with the men aboard a plane, said the CNN report.
“I’ve just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Thank you to RicGrenell and my entire staff. Great job!”
Grenell’s picture shows four of the released Americans wearing light blue outfits commonly worn by people held in the Venezuelan prison system. “We are wheels up and headed home with these six American citizens. They just spoke to President Trump, and they couldn’t stop thanking him,” Grenell wrote in his post.
Maduro’s claim to a third term has been contested by the country’s Opposition, which has published thousands of voting tallies that suggested their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won the election in July last year. They were backed by independent observers such as the Carter Centre and the Colombian Electoral Mission.
Like the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, the US does not recogniseMaduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. It has placed a raft of sanctions or visa restrictions on Maduroaligned officials. Washington has no diplomatic presence in Venezuela. The prisoner release came after a meeting between Grenell and Maduro, which had been expected to cover the deportation of Venezuelan nationals from the US.
Trump has prioritised his campaign promise of mass deportations but Maduro has refused to take Venezuelan nationals back – and the US has generally been unable to send Venezuelans back because of frosty relations, according to the CNN report. Gonzalez, who the US recognises as Venezuela’s Presidentelect and who attended Trump’s inauguration, has warned the White House against cutting a deal with Maduro on deportation flights.
