WASHINGTON: Caracas on Saturday freed seven detained Americans — including five oil executives — in exchange for the release of two nephews of Venezuela’s first lady who were jailed in the United States for drug trafficking.

President Joe Biden issued the announcement that the Americans were on their way home — and a senior official in his administration confirmed shortly afterwards that the US leader had made the “painful decision” to greenlight the prisoner swap to secure their freedom.

“Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan,” Biden said in a statement.

The negotiated release of “two young Venezuelans” held in the United States was confirmed in a near-simultaneous statement by Caracas — whose relations with Washington have been severely strained for years.

While Venezuelan authorities did not name the pair, they were identified by the senior US official as Francisco Flores de Freitas and his cousin Efrain Antonio Campos Flores — both nephews of President Nicolas Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

“As a result of various conversations held since March 5 with representatives of the government of the United States, the release of two young Venezuelans unjustly imprisoned in that country has been achieved,” said the communique from Caracas.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2022