Venezuelan security forces have detained several Americans in the months since the Trump administration began a military and economic pressure campaign against the government of the South American nation, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Some of the detainees face legitimate criminal charges, while the U.S. government is considering designating at least two prisoners as wrongfully detained, according to the official. Those arrested include three Venezuelan-American dual passport holders and two American citizens with no known ties to the country, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has long used detained Americans, whether guilty or innocent of serious crimes, as bargaining chips in negotiations with Washington, his greatest adversary.
President Trump has made the release of Americans held overseas a priority in his two presidencies, and sent his envoy, Richard Grenell, to Venezuela to negotiate a prisoner deal days after the start of his second term.
The ensuing period of talks between U.S. and Venezuelan officials resulted in the release of 17 American citizens and permanent residents held in Venezuela.
But the Trump administration’s decision to suspend those talks in favor of a military and economic pressure campaign against Mr. Maduro put an end to prisoner releases. The number of detained Americans in Venezuela began to rise again in the fall, according to the U.S. official. That rise coincided with the deployment of a U.S. naval armada in the Caribbean and the start of airstrikes against boats that Washington says transport drugs on Mr. Maduro’s orders.
The United States further escalated its pressure campaign this month, targeting tankers carrying Venezuelan oil and paralyzing the country’s biggest source of exports.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombia, which deals with Venezuelan affairs, declined to comment on American detainees in Venezuela, and referred questions to the U.S. State Department.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Venezuela’s Communication Ministry, which handles the government’s press requests, did not respond to a request for comment.
The identities of most of the Americans detained in Venezuela in recent months are unknown.
The family of a traveler named James Luckey-Lange of Staten Island in New York City, reported him missing soon after he crossed Venezuela’s volatile southern border in early December.
The U.S. official said Mr. Luckey-Lange, 28, is among the recently detained, and is one of the two Americans who may be designated as an wrongfully detained prisoner.
Mr. Luckey-Lange is the son of the musician Diane Luckey, who performed as Q Lazzarus and is best known for her 1988 single “Goodbye Horses.” A travel enthusiast and amateur martial arts fighter, Mr. Luckey-Lange worked in commercial fishing in Alaska after graduating from college, according to friends and family.
He embarked on a long trip across Latin America in 2022 following the death of his mother. His father died this year.
“He has been traveling around, figuring out what to do with his life,” said Eva Aridjis Fuentes, a filmmaker who worked with Mr. Luckey-Lange for a documentary about Q Lazzarus. “He has had so much loss.”
Mr. Luckey-Lange wrote in his blog in early December that he was doing research on gold mining in the Amazon region of Guyana, which borders Venezuela. On Dec. 7, he wrote a friend that he was at an unspecified location in Venezuela, and he last spoke to his family the following day. He said he was heading to Caracas, where he was planning to catch a flight on Dec. 12 that would eventually bring him home to New York.
It is unclear if Mr. Luckey-Lange had a visa to enter Venezuela, as the country’s law requires of American citizens.
His aunt and next of kin, Abbie Luckey, said in a phone interview that she has not been contacted by U.S. officials, and is seeking any information about his whereabouts.
Some American citizens who have been released from prison in Venezuela earlier this year have described abusive conditions and lack of due process. Many were not charged with any crimes, and few were convicted.
A Peruvian-American named Renzo Huamanchumo Castillo said he was detained last year after traveling to Venezuela to meet his wife’s family, and charged with terrorism and conspiring to kill Mr. Maduro.
He said the charges made no sense. “We realized afterward, I was just a token,” he added.
Mr. Huamanchumo, 48, said he was frequently beaten and received one liter of muddy water each day while detained in a notorious Venezuelan prison called Rodeo I. “It was the worst thing you can imagine,” he said.
He was freed in a prisoner swap in July.
At least two other people with U.S. ties remain imprisoned in Venezuela, according to their families: Aidel Suarez, a U.S. permanent resident born in Cuba, and Jonathan Torres Duque, a Venezuelan-American.
Genevieve Glatsky, Tibisay Romero, Mariana Martínez and Nicholas Casey contributed reporting. Georgia Gee contributed research.
Anatoly Kurmanaev covers Russia and its transformation following the invasion of Ukraine.
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