Venezuela releases 6 Americans after meeting President Maduro and Trump’s envoy

Caracas, Venezuela (AP) – Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months have been released by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after meeting a Trump administration responsible for exhorting the authoritarian chief to postpone migrants on Friday Deported who committed a Trump Crimes administration in the United States.

President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social networks. The visit of Grenell was a shock for many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the “maximum pressure” campaign he continued against Maduro during his first mandate.

According to the White House, from Grenell de Grenell to Venezuela, was focused on Trump’s efforts to expel Venezuelans in their country of origin, who do not currently accept them and on the release of the Americans detained.

“We are wheels and get home with these 6 American citizens,” Grenell posted on X with a photo showing him as well as the men on an airplane. “They just talked to @realdonaldtrump and they couldn’t stop thank him.”

The meeting of the capital of Venezuela took place less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third term of six years despite credible evidence that he lost last year’s elections. The American government, as well as several other Western nations, do not recognize Maduro’s claim for victory and rather points to accounting sheets collected by the Opposition coalition showing that his candidate, Edmundo Gonzálezwon by a margin from more than two to one.

Venezuelan state television broadcast images from Grenell and Maduro speaking in the Miraflore palace and said the meeting was requested by the United States government.

Signing an executive decree in the oval office on Friday, Trump was invited to know if Grenell was filmed by meeting Maduro lent legitimacy to a government that Trump’s White House does not officially recognize.

“No. We want to do something with Venezuela. I was a very big opponent in Venezuela and Maduro,” replied Trump. “They treated not so good, but they treated the Venezuelan people very badly . “

Maduro, appearing on state television after Grenell had left Venezuela, said the visit had given “initial agreements” but had provided no details.

“I saw three American presidents pass by,” said Maduro. “This is the fourth mandate, and our message was one: we want to establish relations of respect for the sovereignty of Venezuela, for the democratic life of Venezuela, for international law and for our region of Latin America.”

Some Republicans have criticized the visit.

“It’s a terrible timing,” said Elliott Abrams, who was a special sent to Venezuela and Iran during the first Trump administration. “A meeting with Maduro will be used by him to legitimize his reign and show that the Americans recognize him as president. If the goal is to transmit a difficult message on migration problems, the president could have done it himself. It was not necessary to send someone to Caracas. »»

The dispute on election results triggered National protests. More than 2,200 people were arrested during and after the demonstrations.

Among the prisoners are up to 10 Americans Who the government has linked to alleged conspiracies to destabilize the country. Neither the White House nor the Maduro government immediately released the names of the six that were released on Friday.

A non -profit group that had argued for the release of an inmate said that David Estrella, a 62 -year -old child who was heard for the last time in September, was one of the people on the way to the United States Minister of the ‘Venezuelan interior, Diosdado Cabello, had accused Estrella of being part of an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro.

The Trump administration has taken a series of actions to make promises to reprimand illegal immigration and perform the The biggest mass expulsion effort in American history.

These measures include revocation earlier this week A Biden Administration Decision This would have protected around 600,000 people from Venezuela from expulsion, putting a risk of being removed from the country in about two months.

The white house press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists on Friday that Trump asked Greneng to “identify a place and ensure that repatriation flights” carrying Venezuelans, including members of the Criminal organization of Tren de Aragua, “land in Venezuela”. She said Trump also ordered Greneng to “make sure that all American detainees in Venezuela have returned home”.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their country of origin since 2013, when its economy collapsed and Maduro took office. The most installed in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the pandemic, migrants have grown more and more the scope of the United States

The desire of the Venezuelans for better living conditions and their rejection of Maduro should continue to push people to emigrate.

Before the presidential election last year, a national survey of the search firm based in Venezuela Delphos showed about a quarter of the population, thinking of emigrating it if Maduro was re -elected.

Grenell has already contacted Maduro on behalf of Trump to guarantee the release of the Americans imprisoned to go home.

In 2020, he traveled with Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial security company Blackwater, in Mexico City for a secret meeting with better help from Maduro. THE Backchannel speech Centered on Maduro’s offer to exchange eight Americans and then imprisoned in Venezuela for the businessman Alex SaabA close ally of the president accused in the United States of money laundering, previously reported the Associated Press.

No agreement was concluded and Grenell’s request that Maduro resigned was rejected by the envoy of the Venezuelan president. Grenell has always denied having negotiated an exchange of hostages.

Later, in December 2023, the Biden administration exchanged Saab for 10 Americans As part of a policy aimed at re -entering Maduro before the presidential elections.

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Goodman reported to Miami. The author of the Associated Press Will Weissert contributed to this Washington report.

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