The presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, has visited the country on several occasions to check the status of the Americans imprisoned in Venezuela, being a key figure in the release of nine people last year, including six Citgo executives.
A senior US State Department official in charge of detainee and kidnapping affairs made a low-profile visit to Venezuela in December to visit four Americans detained in Venezuelan jails.
The presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, visited Caracas shortly before Christmas accompanied by US consular officials to check the situation of Luke Denman, Airan Berry, Eyvin Hernández and Jerrel Kenemore, the US citizens who are still deprived of their liberty on the ground. Creole.
According to statements by officials and relatives of the detainees to CNNCarstens managed to make visits of about 30 minutes despite not having the support of the US diplomatic representation, due to the break in relations between the administration of Nicolás Maduro and that of Joe Biden.
Jeana Tillery, the sister of Jerrel Kenemore, a 52-year-old computer programmer detained after entering the country from Colombia to live with his Venezuelan girlfriend, testified that Carstens visited her brother and Hernández for about 30 minutes. She gave them both vitamins, bibles, and a tuna fish as a “Christmas present.”
“When he saw the tuna he asked for a moment of silence, he was very happy,” Kenemore’s sister told CNNto then ensure that they allow you to speak with your family member several times a week.
For his part, Henry Martínez, Hernández’s brother, sent sweets from his family with Carstens, as well as vitamins, soap and chocolate.
“They were able to tell him that they are working on his release and that they have not forgotten about him,” said Martínez, who is allowed to speak with his brother at least twice a week in brief conversations of about 10 minutes.
Martínez confessed that he is concerned that his brother may begin to lose hope about his release, since he is close to serving a year in prison without anything happening with his case, since a presentation hearing before a judge has not even materialized.
About Denman and Berry, the two mercenaries hired by the interim government of Juan Guaidó to lead the so-called “Operation Gideon”, no further information was required.
Visits to Americans imprisoned in Venezuela
This is not the first visit Carstens has made to Venezuela. In accordance with CNNThe official traveled several times in the past year and his work has been vital in the negotiations to release prisoners in Venezuela.
As part of these visits, in March 2022 Carstens was in charge of taking Gustavo Cárdenas, one of the six Citgo executives locked up in Venezuela, and Jorge Alberto Fernández, a Cuban-American citizen, to the United States.
In October 2022, the Joe Biden government finalized the release of the Americans José Pereira, Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano and José Luis Zambrano, Matthew Heath and Osman Khan —five of them part of the “Citgo Six”—, in exchange for the delivery of the two nephews of Cilia FloresEfraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores, who had received a sentence in the United States since 2017.
The governments of Maduro and Biden have had talks about the release of US citizens detained in Venezuela and even the US president stated that he would achieve the release of all of them in 2022, however, the approaches remain timid due to the relationship between the two countries.
Facing the public, Biden and Maduro assume confrontational positions. Washington continues to recognize the National Assembly elected in 2015 as the only legitimate authority and denies the representativeness of the Chavista administration, while Maduro accuses Washington of an “interference” policy with the application of sanctions to Venezuela.
Despite the narrative, the United States has relaxed sanctions on the Venezuelan economy, as evidenced by the license granted to the oil company Chevron, which allows it to resume its operations in Venezuela. Although, in theory, it is a permit for the company to collect the debt that PDVSA accumulates without paying taxes or royalties that fall into the hands of the State, its activities will allow Venezuelan oil production to increase, which translates into more money for Chavismo .
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