Houston man jailed in Caracas feared to have virus

MIAMI — An American oil executive jailed in Venezuela has been out of contact with relatives and attorneys for nearly a week, and his family fears he could be suffering from the coronavirus.

Jose Pereira, the former president of Houston-based Citgo, was transferred on Aug. 28 to an unknown hospital after complaining in an earlier phone call of a dry cough, his son told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Since then, his lawyers and family have been unable to obtain information about his whereabouts, said John Pereira. His fellow cellmates — who worked under Pereira at Citgo — told loved ones that guards on Wednesday removed Pereira’s clothes and medicine from the Caracas prison where the men are being held.

“We’re desperate,” said Pereira, who called on Venezuela’s government to provide information about his father’s health. “We need to know what’s happening to him.”

Pereira, 62, has lived in the U.S. since 2012 and has been a permanent legal resident since 2015. He was arrested in 2017 along with his five colleagues — all of them naturalized American citizens — after being duped into traveling to Caracas right before Thanksgiving for what they were told would be an emergency meeting at the headquarters of Citgo’s parent company, state-run oil giant PDVSA. Instead, they were hauled away from a meeting room by masked security forces.

They currently are on trial on corruption charges stemming from a never-executed plan to refinance some $4 billion in Citgo bonds by offering a 50 percent stake in the company as collateral. Tuesday’s session, which Pereira was expected to attend, was cancelled without a reason.

Many believe the so-called Citgo 6 are being held by President Nicolas Maduro as political bargaining chips as relations between the U.S. and Venezuela have deteriorated.

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently traveled to Caracas to press Maduro for the men’s release. Two of the six — Gustavo Cardenas and Jorge Toledo — were later moved to house arrest. The other men who remain jailed in Caracas’ famed Helicoide prison are Tomeu Vadell and brothers Alirio and Jose Luis Zambrano.

On Monday, after Maduro issued pardons for dozens of his jailed and exiled opponents, Richardson reiterated his hope that the men could soon be reunited with their families.