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Commentary

Venezuela Dictator Frees Americans, Agrees to Repatriate Gang Members

February 4, 2025

The Trump administration scored a second diplomatic victory in South America this weekend when Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro freed six American prisoners and agreed to repatriate members of the Tren de Araguas gang arrested in the United States. The victory comes only a week after Trump briefly threatened diplomatic penalties against Colombia, Venezuela’s neighbor to the west, forcing the socialist president to accept returned Colombians who had illegally entered the United States.

U.S. negotiations with Venezuela are inherently more difficult because the U.S. has no formal diplomatic relations with the nation’s government. Neither the previous Trump administration nor the Biden administration recognized its left-wing dictator Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president.

Most recently, in a July 2024 election, Maduro had himself declared the winner, even though the opposition was able to secure enough ballot records to convince international observers and foreign governments — including the U.S. — that Maduro stole the election. The disputed result sparked nationwide protests, and Maduro’s forces arrested more than 2,200 people, including “as many as 10 Americans,” according to the Associated Press.

Given the illegitimacy of Maduro’s regime, American observers have little confidence that the country will observe the rule of law. The U.S. State Department advises Americans against traveling to Venezuela due to “the high risk of wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, [and] poor health infrastructure.”

Yet these conditions did not prevent U.S. Envoy for Special Projects Richard Grenell from extracting concessions from Venezuela during a single, hours-long visit. Grenell met with Maduro on Friday, and he left with six freed Americans aboard his plane.

President Donald Trump announced a further consequence of the visit on Saturday. “Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.”

The Tren de Aragua gang recently moved into American cities and boldly set up shop, taking over apartment buildings in Aurora, Colo. at gunpoint. In New York City, it employed minors as young as 11 to commit robberies in prominent city locations. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 600,000 Venezuelan nationals illegally in the U.S. Through Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had arrested 7,200 illegal immigrants.

On Saturday, the Venezuelan government’s press office declined to officially comment on the claims made by President Trump. This is likely because they couldn’t figure out how to spin it as a victory for Venezuelan socialism against American imperialism. In exchange for releasing Americans from prison and agreeing to repatriate known gang members, the Venezuelan regime received practically nothing.

“This is not a quid pro quo,” argued Mauricio Claver-Carone, U.S. special envoy for Latin America. “It’s not a negotiation in exchange for anything.” Instead, the U.S. got what it wanted by warning Venezuela that “ultimately there will be consequences otherwise.” Grenell concurred. “The only award for Maduro was my physical presence, the first senior U.S. official to visit the country in years.”

Not everyone was happy with this trade, however. Elliott Abrams, special envoy to Venezuela under the first Trump administration, complained that the visit had “terrible timing.” He explained, “A meeting with Maduro will be used by him to legitimize his rule and show that the Americans recognize him as president. If the purpose is to deliver a tough message about migration issues, the president could’ve done that himself. There was no need to send someone to Caracas.”

This criticism is valid; legitimizing Maduro’s regime could lower America’s moral standing to enforce democratic norms in other countries. But a single visit is not equivalent to re-establishing an embassy in the country. And it’s practically impossible to weigh the concrete results from Grenell’s visit against an abstract concept like “legitimacy.” Such decisions are best left to the man with the authority to make them, President Trump, whose asymmetrical thinking has before brought diplomatic breakthroughs the professionals did not think were possible.

The bottom line is that Venezuela’s illegitimate dictator seems far more afraid of Trump’s reinvigorated America than it was afraid of his predecessor. During the Biden administration, Venezuela released nine Americans in 2022 and 10 more in 2023. But those were prisoner exchanges, where Venezuela received something in return. In the 2023 prisoner swap, Venezuela sprung Alex Saab, a businessman charged with money laundering who has now joined Maduro’s cabinet as the industry minister. This past weekend, Venezuela received no prisoners in exchange.

Then there is rhetoric. The New York Times noted how “Mr. Maduro, who has spent his entire tenure blaming Venezuela’s economic woes on U.S. imperialism, talked about starting a new era of engagement with the United States in televised remarks on Friday.” Trump’s muscular diplomatic approach toward Colombia has already yielded positive spillover effects. Even America’s adversaries are working to avoid antagonizing President Trump.

Speaking of America’s adversaries, another American hostage was released on the other side of the world Saturday. As part of its ongoing prisoner exchange with Israel, Hamas released Israeli-American Keith Siegel along with two other Israeli hostages. Siegel is only the fourth American hostage released since October 7. That’s one more American adversary who is not keen to tangle with Trump.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.



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