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- BBC News World
image source, Archyde.com
US President Joe Biden pardoned and allowed the release of Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in exchange for 7 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela.
The nephews of the Venezuelan first lady, Cilia Flores, were sentenced in December 2017 in a New York court to serve 18 years in prison for drug trafficking.
The group of US citizens that was released in exchange for the two relatives of the Venezuelan president included 5 executives of the Venezuelan state oil subsidiary in the US, Citgo.
“Today, following years of being wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela, we bring back Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, y Osman Khan,” President Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
The 5 released executives – Vadell, Jorge Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Toledo and Pereira – were convicted on corruption charges in Venezuela in 2020.
Citizen Osman Khan is known to be a Florida man arrested in January.
As for Matthew Heath, sources told Archyde.com he was a former US Marine who was hospitalized following what was reported as a “suicide attempt” in June. He was arrested in 2020 on terrorism charges, which he denied.
For its part, the Venezuelan government issued a statement reporting the release of “2 young Venezuelans unjustly imprisoned” in the US.
Despite not giving further details, the Venezuelan statement “welcomes the result of these talks” in addition to “vowing for the preservation of peace.”
According to news agencies, Biden signed the order “weeks ago” to pardon Campo Flores and Flores de Freitas; but the exchange did not take place until now because the two parties had to finish the negotiations and resolve some logistical issues.
