(CNN) — US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday the return of seven Americans who he said were wrongfully detained in Venezuela during years”.
“Today, after years of being unjustly detained in Venezuela, we bring home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath and Osman Khan. These people will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones, where they belong,” the president said in a statement.
Vadell, Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano and Pereira are five of six American oil executives known as the “Citgo 6” arrested in Venezuela more than four years ago. Two Americans who had been detained there, including one of the 6 from citgo, They were released in March following the visit of two high-ranking US government officials to Caracas. Heath, a Navy veteran, was arrested in September 2020. Khan has been in custody since January 2022.
This undated file photo posted to Twitter on June 18, 2020 by Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza shows Citgo oil executives Jose Angel Pereira, from left, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano , Tomeu Vadell and Alirio José Zambrano in front of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, in Caracas, Venezuela.
Biden said the seven Americans would be reunited with their families “soon” and thanked members of his administration working to secure their release.
“To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are unjustly detained, please know that we remain dedicated to securing your release,” he said.
The announcement comes months after a US government delegation quietly traveled to Venezuela in June “to discuss the well-being and security of US citizens in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesman said. a CNN at that moment.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the release of the seven detainees and congratulated the State Department staff for “their tireless efforts to achieve this result.”
“While we celebrate the release of these US citizens from Venezuela, we still have work to do. The safety of Americans around the world is my top priority as Secretary of State, and we will continue to push for the release of all American citizens wrongfully detained abroad,” he said in a statement.
“Venezuela welcomes the result of these talks”
The Venezuelan government referred to the release of US citizens in a statement released this Saturday. “We want to inform you that the Venezuelan justice system has decided to release, for humanitarian reasons, a group of US citizens subjected to legal proceedings in our country,” the message indicates.
Similarly, the Venezuelan government assured that the releases were “the product of various conversations held since March 5 with representatives of the United States Government,” and that thanks to them two young Venezuelans “unjustly imprisoned in that country” were released. ”.
The statement from the Venezuelan government does not identify who the Venezuelan citizens released in the US are and concludes that it “welcomes the result of these conversations.”
Marlon Sorto contributed to this report.