At least five Americans still jailed in Venezuela: NGO
At least five US citizens remain in detention in Venezuela since the liberation last week of six others who flew back home with President Donald Trump's special envoy, a local rights group said Wednesday.
Along with the five, there were also two people with other nationalities but who maintain permanent residency in the United States, non-governmental organization Foro Penal said in a statement.
They were among 54 foreigners in total held in Venezuela, including 11 people from Spain, nine from Italy, and one French-American, it added.
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Special envoy Richard Grenell has said there were "at least six" US citizens left in Venezuela after another six were freed following his talks with President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas last week.
They were "in essence hostages" held on "really lame charges," Grenell told "The Megyn Kelly Show" this week.
"It's Nicolas Maduro's position that some of these individuals were arrested because of terrorism charges or individuals that were trying to kill the president of Venezuela or the vice president," Grenell said. "Our information doesn't say that."
Grenell noted that two of the six freed last week were last-minute replacements for two other US prisoners who had refused their jailers' orders to get ready to depart, not believing their liberation was real.
The other four had recounted that "We were released into this room, and we had the other two guys with us, and they asked us to shave and to get ready, get cleaned up. And two of the individuals said: 'We're not doing this again. We've done this four or five times. This is fake'," Grenell said.
"We only learned later... that the Venezuelan government found two other Americans to replace them."
The envoy said work continues for the liberation of the last prisoners, adding: "We will absolutely go back."
Trump said over the weekend that Venezuela had agreed to accept illegal migrants deported from the United States following the Grenell meeting.
The president has pledged to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history, vowing to expel millions of undocumented immigrants, many from Latin American nations.
Grenell travelled to Caracas despite the United States not recognizing Maduro's claim of victory in July elections that the opposition and much of the international community say he stole.
After the meeting, Maduro called for a "new beginning" in bilateral ties.