‘Fat Leonard’: US and Venezuela agree to release of 10 Americans in exchange for release of Maduro ally
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The US has reached an agreement to secure the release of six wrongfully detained Americans and four other Americans held in Venezuela, senior US officials announced Wednesday,
The deal will also include the extradition of Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who orchestrated the largest corruption scandal in US Navy history.
The deal marks another sign of significant thawing in relations between the US and Venezuela after months of high-level negotiations between the two countries. The thaw comes as the Biden administration contends with a worsening situation at its southern border, driven largely by Venezuelan migrants, that has pushed federal resources to the brink.
Six of the Americans – Eyvin Hernandez, Savoi Wright, Jerrel Kenemore, Joseph Cristella, Jason Saad, and Edgar Jose Marval Moreno – landed at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday night.
“It does my heart good to see that you guys are back here on American soil. It’s going to be an interesting transition for you, but at least you will be here in the loving embrace of the country and your families. Welcome home,” Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, who accompanied the Americans on the flight home, told the group.
No other Americans are currently being held in Venezuelan prison facilities, Carstens said.
Wright, upon his return to the US, detailed how he had been held with up to four others in a “very tiny cell” and was at times worried for his safety.
“It’s quite an experience to come back to Texas and to the United States of America and see all of you, such warm faces, so much love. I’m just very grateful, very appreciative for the moment,” Wright said.
Hernandez said it was a “struggle every day” during his 630 days imprisoned in Venezuela. “If you find peace there, they do everything in their power for you to lose that peace and try and make you go crazy. They have a lot of psychological tactics,” he said.
Hernandez, who thanked President Joe Biden for making the “difficult decision” to get them home, also stressed he wanted peaceful relations between the US and Venezuela. “I don’t want anything done against them in my name,” he said.
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