Did you know there were six Americans held in Venezuela? Well, they’re freed
I don’t know about you, but I had missed the news entirely until yesterday, when I saw a story about them. Trump sent Richard Grennell down to Venezuela, and guess what he returned with? Six Americans:
“Just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela. Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday night.
Grenell met with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to send a warning about the consequences that would come from the continued detainment of the Americans.
Who are the six? Their names have not been released, but:
Among those detained are as many as 10 Americans who the government has linked to alleged plots to destabilize the country. Neither the White House nor Maduro’s government immediately released the names of the six who were freed Friday.
Trump has been criticized for sending Grennell to meet with Maduro; they say it lends Maduro legitimacy. Trump has said that he has no intention of changing his attitude towards Maduro, which is still hardline. He also claims the administration got this concession:
And very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua. Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back. We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.
I don’t know what was threatened or what was promised. But I very much doubt that it was to become buddy-buddy with Venezuela.
By the way, the Biden administration had also gotten American detainees returned from Venezuela, but the deal was quite different. Here’s what happened in December of 2023:
The United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery scandal, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. …
The deal represents the Biden administration’s boldest move yet to improve relations with the major oil-producing nation and extract concessions from the self-proclaimed socialist leader. The largest release of American prisoners in Venezuela’s history comes weeks after the White House agreed to suspend some sanctions, following a commitment by Maduro to work toward free and fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election.
The Biden administration suspended sanctions, got some prisoners back but gave up Alex Saab:
Saab, 51, was pulled from a private jet in the summer of 2020 during a stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran, where he was heading to negotiate oil deals on behalf of Maduro’s government.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to a bribery scheme that allegedly siphoned off $350 million through state contracts to build affordable housing for Venezuela’s government.
In addition, of course, that “commitment by Maduro to work toward free and fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election” in Venezuela was a joke.
In addition, of course, that “commitment by Maduro to work toward free and fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election” in Venezuela was a joke.
As anyone with a minimal knowledge of Venezuela could have told Biden when he made that deal w Maduro in 2023.
Maduro’s agreeing to accepted deported illegal aliens is one more example that Trump is more effective in acting for American interests than the hidden cabal that manipulated the Biden puppet for the last four years. Which doesn’t necessarily mean that the hidden cabal was ineffectual—it might also be said that the hidden cabal did not have America’s interests in mind.
Alejandro Puyana, a Venezuelan expat living in Texas, recently wrote Freedom is a Feast, a novel which spans decades of Venezuelan history. Here are two articles about Puyana and the book which help explain his complicated perspective.
Texas Standard_ New novel ‘Freedom is a Feast’ weaves through complexities surrounding Venezuelan history.
Texas Monthly_After Leaving Venezuela, I Thought I’d Lost My Country. Texas Helped Me Get It Back.
He writes from a leftist perspective, but that perspective is much more common in Venezuela than it is here. I sent two autographed books to hometown friends with childhood ties to Venezuela. (I recommend an e-book , because his book is peppered with Venezuelan Spanish idioms which are more easily looked up electronically than from a hard copy dictionary. Even I, who had worked in Venezuela, needed to go to the dictionary for some of the idioms.)
The response that the author gave to one of my questions reminded me of Freud’s saying sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. One of the main characters in the book is Stanislavo Atanas–apparently modeled on Teodoro Petkoff, the former guerrilla turned journalist and anti-Chavista. I said that “Atanas” reminded me of Satanás, the Spanish word for Satan. I asked, did you intentionally make “Atanas” similar to Satanás? No, he replied. Has anyone ever brought up this similarity? No, he replied.
Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.
Back in the day, definitely pre-Maduro and mostly pre-Chavez, US oil refineries on the Gulf of America coast set up to process the uniquely heavy and sulfur-laden crude from Venezuela, making it difficult for them to process all of the lighter shale crude. Biden was more than likely looking for an excuse to back off sanctions to add what little oil still comes out of Venezuela to the US supply chain in an attempt to cut gas prices. Trumps return to ‘drill, drill, drill’ is going to play more havoc with both Venezuela and Russia than Biden’s lame sanctions policies.
Thank you for the recommendation Gringo. I just ordered Freedom is a Feast (through the link on Neo’s blog of course). I’ve been taking Spanish lessons on line for several years from a woman in Maracaibo who has kept me apprised of the situation there under Maduro, and we’ve become good friends I think. Also, for the past year I have been ESL tutoring two young Venezuela refugees, students who had taken part in protests against the Maduro regime, so I have developed an interest.
I’ve been taking Spanish lessons on line for several years from a woman in Maracaibo …
If you can understand a Maracucha, you should be able to handle about any Spanish accent. I worked in Maracaibo, and while I was there I could understand the Maracucho accent. Or at least I thought I could. But after decades away from Maracaibo, the Maracucho accent is beyond my comprehension. Too fast. Consider this video of Robert Serra, a Maracaibo native and Chavista member of the National Assembly, who was assassinated in 2014. I can understand very little of what he says.
Hearing it 8 hours a day versus once a year or more may be the difference. In addition, there is a difference between a video instead of talking face-to-face. Much easier face-to-face. The few times I have heard a Maracucho face-to-face in TX, I haven’t had a problem–but the conversation was also shorter and less complex.
My ordinary Spanish speech isn’t that slow. When I taught school for several years, second generation Mexican American students on two occasions told me that I spoke Chinese (habla Chino). An aide who was the mother of one of my students told me that meant I spoke too fast. But Maracaibo Spanish is at terminal velocity.
A neighbor of mine is from Mérida, which is an accent much, much easier for me to comprehend. Night and day versus Maracaibo. She gifted me Venezuelan Christmas delights–hallacas and pan de jamón.
Amazon’s Fire HD tablet has a text-to-speech app which enables you to listen to a text while you read it. The computer-generated Spanish accent is pretty good. You can also vary the speed. I read some books in Spanish while listening to the text.
I’m glad you bought his book.