More of the Trump effect: six imprisoned Americans have been freed by Venezuela after President Trump's envoy Richard Grenell visited the country this week. They were released and flown home on a State Dept. aircraft on Friday.
"Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela," Trump announced on social media. "Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!" This comes amid reports of some significant behind-the-scenes deal-making with Venezuela, as Washington demands the Latin American country receive back illegal migrants in the US.
The six men were not named, but previously the White House had called on Venezuela to release what it dubbed "US hostages" or else suffer consequences. Grenell had reportedly met directly with President Maduro.
At least nine people with American citizenship or residency had been detained in Venezuela, after authorities accused them of planning to kill President Nicolás Maduro.
According to the NY Times:
Relatives of three detained U.S. citizens said they had gotten very little information from the American government and had not heard from their loved ones for months since they had disappeared.
David Estrella, 64, who worked in quality control for pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey, was among those released, according to his family.
“After such horrible moments that we and David have suffered unjustly, we look forward to welcoming him home and taking care of him until he fully recovers and leaves all this unfortunate incident behind him,” said Elvia Macias, Mr. Estrella’s former wife and close friend. He had entered Venezuela from Colombia to visit friends, Ms. Macias said.
Another reason this is such an unexpected positive development is that the United States has no diplomatic presence or embassy in Venezuela, and also has sanctions against the country and its top officials.
As for what could be a factor in the release, Financial Times speculated that "a deal could involve an easing of US sanctions on Venezuela and dropping a US reward offered for Maduro’s capture in return for Caracas taking back thousands of [Venezuelan] migrants from the US, shipping more oil to American Gulf Coast refineries and releasing US nationals held in Caracas."
The jubilant freed Americans thanked President Trump in a phone call on the plane ride home: