President Donald Trump’s crisis envoy traveled to Venezuela on Friday and returned with a half-dozen American prisoners. Trump celebrated their return and said Caracas agreed to accept deportations from the US.
“It is so good to have the Venezuela Hostages back home and, very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the US, including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump posted on TruthSocial on Saturday. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.”
President Donald Trump’s crisis Envoy, Richard Grenell, met with Venezuelan President Maduro on Friday. Ahead of the meeting, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US State Department special envoy for Latin America, said the goal of the summit was to secure the release of Americans and force Venezuela to accept their citizens deported from the US.
It is unclear if the prisoner exchange was part of a larger deal. In addition to immigration issues and the prisoner release, Grenell and Maduro discussed sanctions.
Following the meeting, Maduro said he hopes the relationship will continue in a positive direction. “There are things where we’ve reached initial deals, and when they are complied with, new issues will open, hopefully new deals for the good of the two countries and the region,” Maduro said. “President Donald Trump, we have made a first step, hopefully, it can continue. We would like it to continue.”
However, Claver-Carone said Washington’s Venezuela policy will not change. The US is pushing for a regime change in Venezuela, Washington claims that Maduro stole the 2024 election and recognizes Edmundo González Urrutia as president. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Grenell’s trip to Venezuela does not mean that the US recognizes Maduro as president.
Grenell has previously said that he wants to engage in diplomacy with Caracas. Additionally, Trump enacted a 10% tariff on Canadian energy imports, which includes heavy crude oil. Many US refiners are built to process heavy crude, and Venezuela is one of the few sources of that type of oil outside of Canada.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is opposed to importing oil from Venezuela and could prevent any sanctions relief. One top American gas giant is pushing to continue business with Caracas. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth plans to lobby the White House this week to keep their licenses to do business in Venezuela.
