Americans detained in Venezuela freed and returning home
Digest more
It was after midnight in Malaysia when Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed into a call between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The topic was Ukraine and Rubio, on his first trip to Asia as Trump’s top diplomat,
An international deal has been struck that has allowed Venezuelans deported from the United States and imprisoned in El Salvador to return to their home country, in exchange for the release of American citizens and political prisoners held in Venezuela.
While Rubio sought to broker a swap, Grenell was quietly pursuing his own deal. Instead of focusing on a direct exchange of prisoners, he offered Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a potential economic lifeline: allowing Chevron to keep its oil operations in Venezuela if the regime released American detainees.