In yet another show of true leadership, President Trump retrieved 6 American hostages from Venezuela.
He dispatched former diplomat Richard Grenell to Venezuela to act on his behalf. Grenell served in multiple roles in the first Trump administration, ending as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. His role was to deliver President Trump’s message to the Venezuelan dictator.
Trump’s message was clear:
“I would urge the Maduro government, the Maduro regime in Venezuela, to heed special envoy Ric Grenell’s message,” said [Trump’s special envoy to Latin America, Mauricio] Claver-Carone, a former top national security aide to Trump during his first administration. “Ultimately there will be consequences otherwise.”
I know Ric Grenell personally, and he gets the job done. But with all due respect on this one, he was little more than a messenger. The die was cast, and Ric merely acted as an Uber driver.
We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens.
They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him. pic.twitter.com/sCvCO4HQQv
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 1, 2025
The Washington Post explained the difference between Biden and Trump.
Clearly, Venezuela has a dramatically different tone when dealing with President Trump:
Grenell’s trip was believed to be the first direct meeting between a U.S. official and the autocrat since 2022.
Venezuela’s state-owned broadcaster showed Grenell shaking hands with a smiling Maduro in the Miraflores presidential palace, a striking image to capture the Trump administration’s first visit to Latin America. Later Friday, Grenell tweeted that he was returning to the United States with the six Americans.
Grenell, a former acting director of national intelligence, and Maduro, the authoritarian socialist who has ruled Venezuela since 2013, met to discuss the Americans detained in the South American country, as well as deportation flights, cooperation to confront the Tren de Aragua gang and energy, according to one person familiar with the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
Needless to say, not only did America get our citizens back, but Maduro will be getting back a lot of his.
According to the New York Post, our work in Venezuela is not done yet.
While the half-dozen fortunate former prisoners have not yet been identified, there are up to 10 Americans detained by Venezuela, including a Navy SEAL and three Americans arrested by the Maduro government over an alleged anti-government plot last fall.
Why didn’t Biden get them released?
Biden is no stranger to hostage swaps with Venezuela. He did it in 2022.
Biden on Saturday announced the return of seven Americans he said were wrongfully detained in Venezuela for “years.”
“Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan. These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong,” the President said in a statement.
The seven American detainees were released in exchange for the release of two Venezuelans imprisoned in the US for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the country, both nephews of Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores.
As Senator Marco Rubio put it at the time:
“I think seven innocent American hostages in exchange for two convicted drug dealers, who happened to be the nephews of (Venezuela President Nicolas) Maduro, is a huge win for Maduro and, unfortunately, puts Americans all over the world now in danger,” Rubio added.
We swapped oil workers for criminals, and Biden spiked the football.
Is it any reason Maduro did it again in 2023:
Ten Americans and a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities have been released from Venezuelan custody in exchange for the U.S. release of a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, senior administration officials confirmed.
As part of the deal, Venezuela returned escaped convict Leonard Francis to U.S. custody. Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” fled to Venezuela in 2022 while he was under house arrest in San Diego after pleading guilty to bribing high-ranking Navy officers.
The prisoner swap took place Wednesday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a southern Caribbean island nation.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said late Wednesday night on X, formerly known as Twitter, that, “All the Americans who were wrongfully detained in Venezuela are now safely back in the United States. Welcome home.”
On the surface this sounds good. We got Fat Leonard back along with 9 other Americans. But why would we have to swap anybody with Venezuela? And why did they detain 9 other Americans? Because they knew they could use them later as bargaining chips.
Trump ended the madness.
Trump gave Maduro nothing but a warning. Stop detaining Americans. And you will be getting your criminals back.
