Venezuela Frees Pair Of Jailed Americans Amid Biden’s Ukraine War “Oil Diplomacy”

Now being suddenly courted by a Biden administration desperate to tap new sources of oil, Venezuela in an apparent good will gesture released two jailed Americans back to their home after high-level talks with the US in Caracas early this week.

One is among the “Citgo 6″… Gustavo Cárdenas – a Citgo executive, was freed – and the other is Jorge Alberto Fernández who was accused of plotting ‘terrorist’ acts against the state last year.

Biden has since confirmed the pair’s release, who he said had been “wrongfully detained in Venezuela” – however the remainder of the Citgo 6 and other US citizens remain there:

“Two Americans who were wrongfully detained in Venezuela will be able to hug their families once more,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

“We are bringing Gustavo Cardenas and Jorge Fernandez home,” he said. He gave no more details about their release.

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price has said they had been held as “political pawns”. Likely if talks toward dropping the US oil embargo on Venezuela continue to make progress, which Maduro had called “cordial” and positive, the remainder of the Citgo 6 might go free, after previously being handed long prison sentences. 

In Washington, talk of normalization with Maduro for the sake of finding alternative oil supplies at a moment Biden has pulled the trigger on banning energy imports from Russia has ignited bipartisan outrage in Congress.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday attempted to completely dodge a pointed question about so-called “Interim President” Juan Guaido…

Psaki ducks important questions from CBS’s @EdOKeefe about what the Biden administration’s conversations with the Maduro regime in Venezuela about detained Americans and oil means for Juan Guaidó’s legitimacy and support within the U.S. government pic.twitter.com/iGIneeWVmV

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 9, 2022

And the moment she left the briefing room…

REPORTER: “Does the U.S. recognize Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela?”

PSAKI: “That’s how we have referred to him, yes” pic.twitter.com/G60A3iFDGr

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 9, 2022