The White House announced the details of a hostage exchange with Venezuela Wednesday afternoon with a statement from President Joe Biden.
"Today, ten Americans who have been detained in Venezuela have been released and are coming home, including all six wrongfully detained Americans. These individuals have lost far too much precious time with their loved ones, and their families have suffered every day in their absence. I am grateful that their ordeal is finally over, and that these families are being made whole once more," Biden said. "Additionally, a fugitive named Leonard Francis, who fled the United States before he could be sentenced for his lead role in a brazen bribery and corruption case – was extradited from Venezuela so that he will face justice for crimes he committed against the U.S. Government and the American people."
"As we welcome home our fellow citizens, I must also remind all Americans of the long-standing warning against traveling to Venezuela. Americans should not travel there," he continued.
Biden's statement left out a key part of the deal: the release of Alex Saab, a friend to Iran and the Maduro regime.
BREAKING: The United States is releasing Alex Saab, a Colombian ally of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Saab stole $350 million from starving Venezuelans.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) December 20, 2023
Saab is a war profiteer arrested while flying to Iran to develop a new corruption network with the 🇮🇷 regime. THREAD🧵 pic.twitter.com/7JHOvyZg1s
For most of the past 8 years, about a third of Venezuelans have been starving.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) December 20, 2023
Saab stole 100s millions of dollars directed for food aid through corrupting the CLAP program, resulting in only a small fraction of food actually going to the hungry.https://t.co/Fyu9CcYOub
What's further concerning is that Saab was finally starting to be useful to the United States and had been informing on Maduro to the DEA.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) December 20, 2023
As my friend Carrie Filipetti of @VandenbergCo notes, Saab was providing crucial leverage against Maduro.https://t.co/OAlidJqBiO
It's good to hear that Americans may be coming home with this deal, and others released - but they shouldn't have been in prison in the first place.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) December 20, 2023
Left unchecked, Maduro will take more and more hostages and demand more and more concessions in return.https://t.co/Npe5vlJt9W
The prisoner swap between the U.S. and Maduro includes a major prize: Alex #Saab, the mastermind of Maduro’s kleptocracy network. The sanctions policy now looks weaker to promote a transition in Venezuela, especially when Maduro has to decide about Maria Corina #Machado’s case https://t.co/R7oUS62wkC
— Jose Ignacio Hernández G. (@ignandez) December 20, 2023
Last year Biden exchanged Viktor Bout, a Russian known as the "merchant of death," for WNBA player Brittney Griner.
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