The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that multiple Americans detained in Venezuela had been released by local authorities, the first known instance of U.S. citizens being freed since the U.S. military’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this month.
“We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela. This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities,” the State Department said in a short statement sent to reporters. It did not specify how many Americans were freed.
Authorities in Caracas announced last week that they had begun releasing political prisoners in a move they described as a “unilateral gesture” and which was welcomed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has said it prioritizes the freeing of imprisoned Americans and has previously negotiated with the Maduro administration on deals. In July last year, several Americans and U.S. permanent residents detained in Venezuela were released in a prisoner swap for more than 250 Venezuelans deported from the United States in March and sent to prison in El Salvador.
Among the Americans that were still detained in Venezuela as Trump declared Jan. 3 that he will “run the country,” is 28-year-old James Luckey-Lange. It was not clear whether Luckey-Lange was one of those released this week.
Abbie Luckey, Luckey-Lange’s aunt, told The Washington Post in an interview this month that her nephew, who is from Staten Island, was traveling around South America.
“He has no political ties to Venezuela at all, and that he’s just a kid that likes to travel, and when he attempted to come home for the holiday, he was detained,” she said at the time, adding that the family was “desperately wanting” to hear that the U.S. government was working to get Luckey-Lange home.
Adam Taylor contributed to this report.
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