Venezuela transferred six American oil executives to house arrest on Friday as the Biden administration mulled next steps in its relationship with Nicolas Maduro’s socialist regime.
UPDATE 3-Venezuela releases former Citgo executives to house arrest -source Reuters 5 hrs ago
By Luc Cohen
CARACAS, April 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela has released from jail six former executives of U.S.-based refining company Citgo and put them on house arrest, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday, more than three years after they were arrested on corruption charges.
The officials were detained in November 2017 after being called into a meeting at the Caracas office of state oil company PDVSA, which owns Citgo.
The detention of the former executives, who include five naturalized U.S. citizens and one permanent resident, has been a major sticking point in tense relations between Caracas and Washington, which has repeatedly called for the men s release and called their detention unlawful.
By Luc Cohen
CARACAS, April 30 (Reuters) - Venezuela has released from jail six former executives of U.S.-based refining company Citgo and put them on house arrest, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday, more than three years after they were arrested on corruption charges.
The officials were detained in November 2017 after being called into a meeting at the Caracas office of state oil company PDVSA, which owns Citgo.
The detention of the former executives, who include five naturalized U.S. citizens and one permanent resident, has been a major sticking point in tense relations between Caracas and Washington, which has repeatedly called for the men s release and called their detention unlawful.
Venezuela Grants US Oilmen House Arrest in Gesture to Biden
Voice of America
01 May 2021, 16:05 GMT+10
MIAMI - Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges were granted house arrest on Friday in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.
The partial release of the six employees of Houston-based Citgo was confirmed to The Associated Press by lawyers and family members of the men.
Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were hauled away by masked security agents during a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017. They had been lured to Venezuela to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.