US determined there are 9 wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela

By Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday determined that there are nine wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday, calling for President Nicolas Maduro's government to release them immediately.

"It is unacceptable that the regime has arrested and jailed Americans under questionable circumstances and without respect for their rights," the spokesperson said.

"All Americans unjustly detained by the Maduro regime must be released immediately. The United States continues our efforts to secure the release of any remaining Americans unjustly detained by the regime in Venezuela."

The spokesperson did not name those it has determined are wrongfully detained.

The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the government has previously accused some detained Americans of involvement in terrorist plots.

Maduro's government regularly accuses the opposition and foreigners of conspiring with the U.S. to harm Venezuela, accusations the opposition and the U.S. have always denied.

Responsibility for the cases of the nine Americans determined to be wrongfully detained will now fall to the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, raising their political profiles and allowing the government to allocate more resources to securing their release.

Lucas Hunter, a 37-year-old French-American citizen, was among those determined to be wrongfully detained, his sister, Sophie, said in a statement on Friday.

"Venezuela has been put on notice," she wrote.

According to a website advocating for his release, Hunter was traveling in Colombia when a road brought him close to the Venezuela border.

"He recognized it and turned to get away but was coerced by the Venezuelan border agents who crossed into Colombia to grab him," according to the website.

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Richard Grenell said last month that there were at least six Americans wrongfully held in prison in Venezuela, three days after returning to the U.S. from Venezuela having secured the release of six other Americans in a surprise development after he met with Maduro in Caracas.

A source familiar with the matter said the nine determined to be wrongfully detained on Monday were arrested between late August and January, and included seven left imprisoned after Grenell's visit to Caracas and two arrested afterward.

Venezuela has accepted at least four flights carrying more than 600 migrants returning from the United States since Grenell's visit as the Trump administration drives a deportation and anti-gang push in the United States.

Trump said after Grenell's visit that Maduro had agreed to receive "all" undocumented Venezuelan living in the United States, including members of the Tren de Aragua crime gang.

Maduro's government-backed victory in the July 2024 vote is contested by the opposition, international observers and numerous countries, including the United States, and his government has faced heavy U.S. sanctions.

In late 2023, Venezuela's government released dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, after months of negotiations, while the U.S. released a close ally of Maduro.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jonathan Landay in Washington and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota)