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A growing number of US citizens are being detained in Venezuela — and though exactly how many is unknown, the detentions could give authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro leverage in frosty relations with Washington.
By CNN – Stefano Pozzebon
Aug 16, 2022
Since 2019, the US and dozens of other countries around the world have said they do not consider Maduro’s presidency legitimate, recognizing instead opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim head of state. Yet current US President Joe Biden’s Biden White House has dispatched senior officials to Caracas three times this year to meet Maduro and his representatives, in an effort to negotiate for the detained Americans.
Although the Biden administration has hardly laid out the red carpet – it refused to invite Maduro to this year’s Summit of the Americas, and maintained personal sanctions on Venezuelan government officials – the fact that top officials are meeting directly with Maduro to discuss the detainees suggests that the White House has abandoned the Trump-era tactic of freezing out the authoritarian leader.
The effort appears separate from parallel conversations seeking to boost Venezuela’s oil output under the pressure of rising gas prices globally — and from the backstage political negotiations encouraged by Washington between Maduro and the Guaido-led opposition, so far a slow-moving process.
Concessions on principle
Under pressure domestically, Biden’s administration has already proven itself ready to make concessions on principle in order to take practical steps toward winning freedom for US citizens abroad.
As CNN previously reported, the White House has already offered to trade WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan — both detained in Russia — for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. That proposed swap overrides opposition from the Department of Justice, which is generally against prisoner trades.
It is unclear exactly how many Americans are currently being detained in Venezuela, and the US State Department often does not comment on specific cases due to privacy considerations.
But among those publicly known to be detained are five of the six so-called “Citgo 6,” executives from the Citgo oil refinery held on corruption charges after that they deny; two former US Special Forces members, Aidan Berry and Luke Denman, detained in alleged connection to a botched private attempt to force Maduro from power; and Matthew Heath, a former US Marine accused of planning to attack a Venezuelan oil refinery.
Unofficially, State Department sources estimate the actual number of American detainees in Venezuela may be 17.
The State Department considers they are all wrongfully detained, and lawyers and relatives of the Citgo 6 have often accused Venezuelan embattled leader Nicolás Maduro of using the group as “pawns” to exert pressure on the US government.
Last month, CNN learned that at least three other US citizens have been detained in Venezuela this year, including a Los Angeles public defender.
In Venezuela, outreach from the US government to negotiate on behalf of American detainees is led by envoy Roger Carstens, who has met Maduro in person during his multiple trips to Caracas. CNN has reached to Carstens’ office seeking comments.
In March, he visited Caracas with Amb. James Story, who heads the US Venezuelan Affairs Unit, and regional National Security Council Senior Director Juan González — the high profile visit was the first since diplomatic relations between the two countries broke down in 2019.
Shortly after, Venezuela freed Gustavo Cardenas, a former Citgo executive, and Jorge Alberto Fernández, a Cuban-US dual citizen, in March.
Two more trips to Venezuela have since followed.
“You cannot say that [the White House] are not applying pressure: we have had three trips of high-ranking officials so far,” said one source involved in negotiations to release US citizens.
“It’s not like this has happened before,” they said, highlighting the Maduro’s unprecedented level of direct communication with Washington.
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Read More: CNN – Are negotiations over detained Americans slowing the fight for democracy in Venezuela?
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