U.Sal-Sonderbound Grenell: Venezuela leaves six US citizens free






Six US citizens detained in Venezuela were released after a meeting between the special envoy by US President Donald Trump and Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. As Richard Grenell, who was in Germany between 2018 and 2022, announced on Friday (local time) in online service X, the US citizens flew back to the USA with him. At the meeting in Caracas, Maduro had promoted a “new beginning” of relationships with Washington.

The released people just spoke to Trump, explained Grenell. “They couldn’t stop thanking him.” For this purpose, the US envoy published a photo of the six released people on the plane for special tasks, but gave no information about their identity.

A little later, Trump commented on his online platform Truth Social: “We were just informed that we will bring six hostages home from Venezuela,” he wrote there. He also thanked Grenell and his employees.

According to the Latin America representative of the US Foreign Ministry, Mauricio Claver-Carone, Grenell had the order when he visited Caracas that Venezuela was “unconditional” withdrawal of “criminals and gang members” as well as the immediate release of in Venezuela to demand detained US citizens.

In the conversation, President Maduro advocated a “new beginning in bilateral relationships” with the United States, according to his government. Accordingly, the conversation was particularly concerned with “migration, the negative effects of economic sanctions against Venezuela, US citizen who are involved in crimes in Venezuelan territory and the integrity of the political system of Venezuela”. Maduro has also “expressed his willingness to keep the diplomatic channels open to the United States of America,” it said.

“We say to President Donald Trump: We took a first step. We hope that this can continue, we want to continue it,” emphasized Maduro later in a speech.

The US government had lifted protection status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States this week. Under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, the temporary protection status had been extended to more than a million people – especially from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela.

A few days before the end of his term, the Democrat Biden had also extended the temporary protection status for Venezuelan migrants by another 18 months. The Ministry of Homele Protection was justified by the decision at the time with the “severe humanitarian emergency, in which the country is under the inhumane Maduro regime due to the political and economic crisis”.

The Maduro, who has been in office since 2013, was sworn in for a third term in January. The United States does not recognize its election victory and have a reward of $ 25 million (around 24 million euros) for its arrest for drug trafficking.

Trump has announced a hard line opposite Maduro and other left -wing heads of Latin America. Despite his anti-migrant attitude, some US citizens support him with Venezuelan roots. According to the Latin America representative of the US State Department, the talks between Grenell and Maduro were not a softening of the position compared to the Venezuelan head of state.

Lt/ck

  • Venezuela

  • Nicolás Maduro

  • Donald Trump

  • USA

  • US President

  • Caracas

  • Foreign Ministry of the United States

  • Germany

  • Joe biden