Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the judicial year at the Supreme Court in Caracas, Venezuela in January.
Matias Delacroix / AP
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Matias Delacroix / AP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the judicial year at the Supreme Court in Caracas, Venezuela in January.
Matias Delacroix / AP
A senior US administration official released two Americans on Tuesday, confirmed to NPR.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro has freed Gustavo Cárdenas, one of six US Citgo executives detained in 2017and Jorge Alberto Fernández, who New York times said was a Cuban-American tourist arrested on terrorism charges for bringing a drone into Venezuela. The Times First time reporting the news of the issue pair.
Cárdenas is one of six US oil executives sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 2020 in the South American country on charges of embezzlement tied to a never-made proposal to refinance approximately $4 billion in Citgo bonds. All declared themselves innocent.
The sentencing culminates in a story that begins on November 21, 2017, the day the men arrived to do what they were told was a surprise business meeting in the country’s capital, Caracas. country. Once inside, however, military intelligence officers burst into the room. The police asked the men to hand over their passports and other identification cards, and then sent them to jail. Financial Times reported at the time.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the White House press secretary said the purpose of the high-level US delegation to Venezuela last weekend was to discuss a range of issues including energy security as well as health. and the welfare of detained American citizens.
“We would never miss an opportunity to do exactly that,” she said. “And I’ll just note, in this scenario, they’re separate. They’re separate paths and conversations.”
