Venezuela frees 6 Americans after meeting between President Maduro and Trumps envoy

Six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela in recent months were freed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after he met Friday with a senior Trump administration official.U.S.President Donald Trump and his envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, announced the release of the six men on social media.

Grenell posted on X a photo showing him and the men aboard an aircraft.Grenell’s hours long trip to Venezuela, according to the White House, was focused on Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelans back to their home country, which currently does not accept them, and on the release of the detained Americans.“We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens,” Grenell wrote on X.“They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him.”The visit by Grenell came as a shock to many Venezuelans who hoped that Trump would continue the “maximum pressure” campaign he pursued against the authoritarian Venezuelan leader during his first term.Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s special envoy to Latin America, previewed Grenell’s visit to Caracas in a conference call with journalists on Friday.

He said Grenell, who served as U.S.Ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, was in Venezuela on a “very specific mission” that in no way detracts from the Trump administration’s goal of restoring democracy in the South American nation.“I would urge the Maduro government, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, to heed special envoy Ric Grenell’s message,” said Claver-Carone, himself a former top national security aide to Trump during his first administration.

“Ultimately there will be consequences otherwise.”The visit comes less than a month after Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost last year’s election by a more than 2-to-1 margin.The U.S.

government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize...

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Publisher: New York Post

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