Citgo 6 families heighten calls for releases
The families of high-ranking Citgo executives still detained in Venezuela are intensifying their calls on lawmakers to do more to secure the release of their loved ones and other Americans detained overseas.
Families of the so-called Citgo 6 and other American hostages plan to rally in Washington on Wednesday and call on President Joe Biden to take “decisive action” to bring home Americans who have been detained overseas.
Their calls follow last week’s surprise announcement that the Biden administration had negotiated the release of U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed as part of a prisoner swap with Russia that also resulted in a convicted Russian drug trafficker being freed from prison in the U.S.
Families of the Citgo 6 and other detained Americans want lawmakers to take a similarly proactive approach to their cases.
“There are over 55 Americans currently being held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas,” the families said in a statement. “They are being held because they have a U.S. passport — not for any other reason. We need the White House to use all the tools on the table to bring our family members home. We are requesting to meet with the White House to share our perspective and gain their support.”
The Citgo executives have been detained in Venezuela since 2017, when they were called to Caracas for what they said was a routine budget meeting for PDVSA, the state-owned oil company that is the parent of the Houston refiner. Once in the country, they were arrested and charged for an alleged conspiracy to sell off $4 billion in Citgo bonds for their personal gain.
The men were each sentenced to prison terms of more than eight years, and their families have maintained they were detained so that they could be used as bargaining chips by the Venezuelan government in later negotiations with the United States.
In March, one of the Citgo 6, Gustavo Cardenas, 56, was allowed to return home to Katy as the U.S. renewed talks with the oil-rich country after years of sanctions and tension. The negotiations resumed as American officials sought new fuel sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tightened global supplies and caused global oil prices to skyrocket.
Meanwhile, their families have continued to call for a change to the U.S. government’s longstanding “no concessions” policy in hostage negotiations. They cite decades of research showing that the policy has done little to deter hostage takers, who typically decide to take hostages simply because the opportunity presents itself — and not as a premeditated plan to extract money or concessions from the U.S. government.
On Monday, the Biden administration declared that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been “wrongfully detained” since earlier this year, when she was arrested in Russia after authorities allegedly found marijuana in one of her travel bags. Griner, a Houston native, plays for the Phoenix Mercury.
The new designation of Griner’s case allows the Biden administration to be more proactive in their attempts to secure her release, particularly through a recently created office, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, that serves as a liaison between the U.S. government, hostages and their families.