American Oil Execs Jailed in Venezuela Seen in New Video
Venezuela has released a video for the first time showing six American oil executives jailed in Caracas as relatives appealed for international help in securing their release.
The men have been jailed for over two years since officials under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asked them to travel from the CITGO headquarters in Houston for a meeting in Caracas, where they were arrested.
“Seeing these images has made me sick to my stomach,” said Gabriela Zambrano, daughter of detained Alirio Zambrano.
“It hurts beyond belief to know the regime is continuing to use him as a human puppet.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza posted a 30-second video and photographs of the men on Twitter late Wednesday. Venezuelan law guarantees the right to health and preventive measures against COVID-19 and any other disease, Arreaza said.
In the video, the men dressed in orange prison garb stand before the camera, all wearing white face masks, except for José Pereira, who says they are well cared for by their jailers.
While in the US hundreds of detainees have lost their lives to #Covid_19, in Venezuela we’ve taken precautions to avoid it. The US intends to continue justifying its aggressions with lies about the 6 former Citgo Venezuelans today under trial by the Venezuelan justice. pic.twitter.com/f84feBQ9ue
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) June 18, 2020
“Given limitations, our conditions here have been good,” Pereira said in the video. “They treat us with respect regarding our human rights.”
Released photographs show the men standing on the steps in front of the headquarters of SEBIN, Venezuela’s intelligence police. In one picture, a man talks on a phone, while other images show men playing ping pong and lifting weights.
In accordance to our legislation, their human rights, contact with their families, their food, sports activities & measures for the prevention of #COVID_19 & any other disease, are fully guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/Zini3lPslt
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) June 18, 2020
The Associated Press could not independently confirm the men’s conditions.
The men — Tomeu Vadell, José Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and José Pereira — worked as executives at Houston-based CITGO.
Just before Thanksgiving in 2017, they were lured to Caracas for a meeting at the headquarters of CITGO’s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA, when masked security agents swarmed a boardroom and hauled them away.
The men are held at the Helicoide jail in Caracas awaiting 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.
But many believe the men, five of whom are naturalized U.S. citizens and the other a legal resident, are being held as political bargaining chips as relations between the U.S. and Venezuela have deteriorated.
Cristina Vadell said her 60-year-old father, Tomeu Vadell, is the oldest among the six men. He has serious underlying conditions that would put him at risk if he were to contract COVID-19, she said, adding that all six men have issues that put them at risk.
Cristina Vadell and her family are urging U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to intervene to win his release — “before it’s too late.”
“This arbitrary detention of 2.5 years without trial must end now,” Vadell said.
Vadell said her father and the others are held together in a small cell without windows, air conditioning or ventilation.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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