Venezuelan law enforcement officials detained a U.S. Navy sailor visiting Caracas, Venezuela, on August 30, U.S. and defense officials confirmed to several outlets on Wednesday.
The Navy sailor is reportedly being held by the socialist Maduro regime’s Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
“We are aware of reports that a U.S. Navy sailor was detained on or about August 30, 2024, by Venezuelan law enforcement authorities while on personal travel to Venezuela,” a defense official told CNN. “The U.S. Navy is looking into this and working closely with the State Department. We refer you to the State Department for additional questions.”
According to another U.S. official who spoke to CNN, the Navy sailor was not on official travel or approved leave when he traveled to Venezuela.
Several U.S. officials and a senior Defense Department official told CBS News that the enlisted sailor is a petty officer first class and formerly a Navy SEAL who was assigned to a West Coast team. CBS News reported that one of the officials said that the arrested sailor “was no longer authorized” to wear the Trident insignia that identified him as a qualified SEAL.
Former Navy SEAL officer and Afghanistan veteran Dave Madden told CBS News that it is “uncommon” for a SEAL to be stripped of the Trident insignia.
“It happens sometimes, but it’s pretty rare,” Madden said, suggesting that a SEAL would likely have done “a pretty egregious thing” to be punished that way.
The U.S. Department of State maintains an active Venezuela travel advisory warning to its citizens, which informs would-be U.S. travelers to Venezuela that there is a “high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals in Venezuela.”
“Security forces have detained U.S. citizens for up to five years. The U.S. government is not generally notified of the detention of U.S. citizens in Venezuela or granted access to U.S. citizen prisoners there,” the travel advisory reads.
White House spokesman John Kirby confirmed the arrest of the Navy sailor during a Wednesday press briefing.
“My understanding was that this individual was on some sort of personal travel and not on official government business,” Kirby said. “We’re obviously in touch, as appropriate, as you’d think we would be, with Venezuelan authorities to try and get more knowledge and information about this.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also confirmed the Navy sailor’s detention during a Wednesday press briefing:
We are closely monitoring the situation, seeking additional information, and I don’t have further comment at this time. As you know, oftentimes when it comes to individuals who are detained overseas, due to privacy considerations, there’s not much I can say from this podium. But it is a matter we are aware of and seeking more information about.
Miller pointed out that “there are things that we know about this arrest that I am not at liberty to say” and stressed that “we’re limited in talking about cases.”
The detention of the U.S. Navy sailor occurs amidst growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela’s socialist regime roughly one month after the July 28 sham presidential election — which the international community highly questioned and which socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro fraudulently insists he “won.”
The United States is among the countries that do not recognize Maduro’s claimed victory as legitimate. At press time, Venezuelan top electoral authorities — loyal to Maduro — have not published voter data or documentation that can corroborate the claimed victory. Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ), also loyal to Maduro, ruled in late August to “uphold” Maduro’s claimed “victory.”
The Venezuelan opposition had contested the results and published a website with copies of more than 80 percent of the election’s vote tallies collected from local voting stations. The results of the published tallies indicate that opposition candidate Edmundo González defeated Maduro in a landslide.
The United States and other countries, such as Argentina, have recognized González as the winner of the sham election.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden — who spent years promoting the idea of enticing Maduro to hold a “free and fair” election in Venezuela — is reportedly preparing to impose sanctions on 15 Maduro regime officials and visa restrictions on 34 of their relatives in response to Maduro’s fraudulent electoral victory claims.
The new round of sanctions, according to Bloomberg, would target electoral officials and lawmakers. The sanctions would also target members of SEBIN and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), which have been at the forefront of Maduro’s brutal persecution campaign of protesters and dissidents following the election.
On Monday, U.S. authorities seized a $13 million luxury plane used by Maduro from the Dominican Republic after an investigation determined that the Maduro regime violated U.S. sanctions by purchasing the aircraft through a Caribbean-based shell company. CNN en Español reported on Wednesday that a second plane linked to Maduro was also identified in the Dominican Republic.
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