The US citizen was detained in Venezuela for nearly six months before being transferred to the US.
The family of US Air Force veteran Joseph St. Clair confirmed his release Tuesday after being taken into custody last November.
“The news came suddenly, and we’re still handling it, but we’re overwhelmed by joy and gratitude,” St. Clair’s parents, Scott and Patty, said in a statement.
Richard Grenell, the envoy for US President Donald Trump’s special mission, later explained on social media that he met with Venezuelan officials on the Caribbean island of Antigua to negotiate his release.
Grenell believes in St. Clair’s freedom for Trump’s “America-first” political platform.
“Joe St. Clair is back in America,” he wrote. “I met Venezuelan officials today in a neutral country to negotiate America’s first strategy. This is only possible so that (Trump) puts Americans first.”
Citing an anonymous source familiar with negotiations, Reuters news agency reported that Grenell discussed the case of St. Clair on Tuesday with Venezuelan Parliament president and President Nicolas Maduro’s ally Jorge Rodriguez.
Reuters and another news agency, Bloomberg, both reported that contracts have been put in place to extend the license that US oil company Chevron will operate in Venezuela for 60 days.
The Trump administration previously announced it would revoke its license in February, based on Venezuela’s failure to support a commitment to a fair election. The license was scheduled to end on May 27th.
The extension may require approval from the US State Department and the US Treasury Department.
South American countries rely on oil as the pillar of their economy. But since the mid-2010s, Venezuela has experienced an economic crisis that has pushed even basic supplies, such as food and medicine, than some families can afford.
It, coupled with suspicions of political oppression, prompted nearly 7.9 million people to leave Venezuela, according to the United Nations.
In 2023, Venezuela promised election reforms under the Barbados Agreement. This is a deal that the US praised. Then-US President Joe Biden relaxed restrictions on Venezuela’s oil industry in the aftermath of the agreement.
However, the Venezuela presidential election on July 28, 2024 was widely criticised for its lack of transparency. Maduro and his allies claimed he had won a third term, but election officials did not provide evidence of his victory.
Instead, the opposition coalition released a tally of votes that stated that the candidate had proved he won by a landslide. It prompted widespread protests and fatal crackdowns from law enforcement.
During his term in office from 2017 to 2021, Trump pursued a campaign of “maximum pressure” on the Maduro government, offering a $15 million bounty for information that led to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader.
However, critics pointed out that Trump may need Venezuela’s cooperation to implement the “massive deportation” goal in his second term.
Since taking office in January, Trump has shown an eagerness to negotiate with Maduro. In late January, he sent Grenell to meet Maduro in person in the capital of Caracas. Part of Grenell’s order was to ensure that all detained Americans in the country were returned to their homes.
When Grenell left the country, he revealed that he had returned with six Americans who had previously been incarcerated in Venezuela.
In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimated that nine Americans remained in Venezuela custody.
Venezuela began accepting deportation flights from the United States, but in the past they had refused to accept immigrants who had been removed from the United States.
The St. Clair family says military veterans are language experts who sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in South America.