The US freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the extradition of a fugitive defence contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the centre of a massive Pentagon bribery scandal, officials said on Wednesday.
The deal represents the US government’s boldest bid to improve relations with the major oil-producing nation and extract concessions from the self-proclaimed socialist leader.
The largest release of American prisoners in Venezuela’s history comes weeks after the Biden administration agreed to suspend some sanctions, following a commitment by Mr Maduro and an opposition faction to work towards free and fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election.
The release of Alex Saab, a Maduro associate who was arrested on a US warrant for money laundering in 2020 and long was regarded as a criminal trophy by Washington, is a significant concession to the Venezuelan leader.
US officials said the decision to grant him clemency was difficult but essential in order to bring home jailed Americans, a core administrative objective that in recent years has resulted in the release of criminals who had once been seen as untradeable.
“Sometimes that means you’ve got to make some difficult decisions,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
The deal also guarantees the release of 10 Americans who had been held in Venezuela, according to senior administration officials.
Several of the Americans have been formally designated by the US government as wrongfully detained.
The agreement also will result in the extradition of Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian owner of a ship-servicing company in south-east Asia who is the central character in one of the largest bribery scandals in Pentagon history.
Nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” he fled home custody in San Diego in September 2022 and was arrested by Venezuelan police attempting to board a flight at the Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas.
The exchange would also be seen as a major US concession to Mr Maduro, likely angering hardliners in the Venezuelan opposition who have criticised the White House for standing by as the leader of the Opec country nation has repeatedly outmanoeuvred Washington after the Trump administration’s campaign to topple him failed.
In October, the White House eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas and mining industries but threatened to reimpose the restrictions if Mr Maduro, by November 30, did not live up to his promise to pave the way for free and fair elections next year.
He is seeking in 2024 to add six years to his decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency.
That deadline has passed and so far Mr Maduro has failed to reverse a ban blocking his chief opponent, Maria Corina Machado, from running for office.
President Joe Biden, who did not confirm any details about the prisoner exchange, told reporters: “It looks like Maduro, so far, is keeping his commitment on a free election. It ain’t done yet. Got a long way to go. But it’s good so far.”
But days after Mr Maduro’s negotiators and the US-backed opposition agreed to work on electoral conditions, the country’s high court, stacked with Maduro loyalists, suspended the opposition’s entire primary election process.
The attorney general opened criminal investigations against some of the organisers.
Mr Maduro, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodriguez and other allies insisted the balloting was fraudulent and challenged the participation of more than 2.4 million voters.
The US sanctions remain eased as part of the deal announced on Wednesday. It also requires Mr Maduro’s government to release 21 Venezuelans, including Roberto Abdul, who co-founded a pro democracy group with Ms Machado more than two decades ago, and dismiss three arrest warrants.
The US has conducted several swaps with Venezuela over the past few years. The most notable was a deal in October 2022 for seven Americans, including five oil executives, in exchange for the release of two nephews of Mr Maduro’s wife jailed in the US on narcotics charges.
The deal is the latest concession by the Biden administration in the name of bringing home Americans jailed overseas.
Perhaps the most-high-profile prisoner exchange came last December when the US government, over the objections of some Republicans in Congress and criticism from some law enforcement officials, traded Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner.
In September, Iran released five American detainees in exchange for the release of nearly six billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets and two Iranian prisoners who had been jailed in the US.
The succession of swaps has raised concerns that the US is incentivising hostage-taking abroad and producing a false equivalence between Americans who are wrongfully detained abroad and foreigners who have been properly prosecuted and convicted in US courts.
But Biden administration officials say securing the freedom of wrongfully detained Americans and hostages abroad is a core government priority that requires difficult dealmaking.
