Seven Americans wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela were released in a prisoner swap for two relatives of Venezuela's first lady who had been convicted and jailed on drug charges, the U.S. State Department (DOS) announced Oct. 1.
Six U.S. citizens - Matthew Heath, Osman Khan, Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano and José Luis Zambrano, and U.S. legal permanent resident Jose Periera, were freed in the exchange, the DOS announced at the time. Sec. Antony Blinken expressed gratitude to Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and DOS staff "for their tireless efforts to achieve this outcome," the DOS reports.
"After extraordinary efforts and perseverance across the State Department and wider U.S. government for many months," Blinken said in the announcement, "these wrongfully detained Americans and legal permanent resident are free and will soon be reunited with their loved ones."
In exchange for the release of the Americans, the U.S. released Franqui Flores and Efrain Campo, nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. The men were arrested during a Drug Enforcement Administration operation in Haiti in 2015 and subsequently convicted of drug trafficking.
Five of the released Americans, Toledo, Vadell, Pereira and both Zambranos, are executives with Houston-based oil company Citgo. The Associated Press reports the men were "lured" to Venezuela just before Thanksgiving 2017 for a meeting at the headquarters of PDVSA, the state-run oil conglomerate and Citgo's parent company. The five Citgo executives were seized by masked security agents who "busted into a Caracas conference room," the AP reported. After a much-criticized 2020 trial, the men were convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.
Former U.S. Marine corporal Matthew Heath of Tennessee was arrested in 2020 at a Venezuela roadblock on weapons charges called "specious" by the DOS, according to reporting by National Public Radio. NPR reports Osman Khan of Florida was arrested in January for allegedly entering Venezuela illegally from Colombia; the DOS considered the arrest to be wrongful detainment.
“Although we celebrate the release of these U.S. nationals from Venezuela, we still have more work to do," Blinken said in the DOS announcement. "The safety and security of Americans worldwide is my highest priority as Secretary of State, and we will continue to press for the release of all U.S. nationals wrongfully detained abroad.”
Approximately 60 Americans are currently being wrongfully detained or held hostage by hostile foreign governments, the AP reports.
