Six Americans freed in Venezuela after Trump envoy meets with Maduro

(CNN) — Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela are heading home to the US, President Donald Trump announced Friday, after his envoy met with the country’s President Nicolás Maduro.

The meeting in Caracas, first reported by CNN, was notable given Washington does not officially recognize 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.

“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 Ric Grenell 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 Center and the Colombian Electoral Mission.

Like the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, the US does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. It has placed a raft of sanctions or visa restrictions on Maduro-aligned officials. Washington has no diplomatic presence in Venezuela.

In September the US seized Maduro’s airplane.

Friday’s 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 prioritized 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.

Gonzalez, who the US recognizes as Venezuela’s president-elect and who attended Trump’s inauguration, has warned the White House against cutting a deal with Maduro on deportation flights.

As Grenell headed to the meeting on Friday, Trump was asked if his envoy being photographed with Maduro would lend legitimacy to the Venezuelan leader.

The US President told reporters he wanted to “do something with Venezuela,” but noted that he was “a big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro.”

“They’ve treated us not so good, but they’ve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly,” he said.

Maduro said in an annual speech to the judiciary late on Friday evening that the meeting with Grenell had yielded some initial deals and he looked forward to “new deals for the good of the two countries and the region,” according to Reuters.

“President Donald Trump, we have made a first step, hopefully it can continue,” Maduro said.

Maduro and Grenell also discussed issues of migration and sanctions, according to a Venezuelan government statement on Friday.

Under Maduro – in office since 2013 – oil-rich Venezuela has fallen into a deep economic and political crisis, gripped by hyperinflation. Millions of people have fled the country in fear and desperation.

The State Department advises Americans against traveling to Venezuela, warning that “there is a high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”

In August last year, Venezuelan intelligence agency SEBIN detained a US Navy sailor, according to an official who spoke to CNN.

Nine Americans were brought home from Venezuela by the Biden administration in 2022 after five years of detention in the country.

In December 2023, the US secured the release of six wrongfully detained Americans and four other Americans held in Venezuela.

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