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(WASHINGTON) — The State Department is ramping up efforts to dissuade Americans from traveling to Venezuela after revealing on Tuesday that the country is unjustly imprisoning more Americans than any other country.
“There are more U.S. citizens being held in prisons in Venezuela than any other country,” said Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special presidential envoy for hostage recovery.
“And these are not people that did anything wrong,” he continued. “Their only issue is that they are American. Venezuela takes more Americans than any other country for that sole reason.”
While the State Department has not revealed exactly how many U.S. citizens are behind bars in Venezuela, at least eight Americans are known to be detained in the country.
The State Department has classified Venezuela under its most severe travel advisory, “Level 4: Do Not Travel,” since February 2019. But on Tuesday, the U.S. embassies in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil and Aruba and the State Department’s Venezuela Affairs Unit reissued the warning in an attempt to reach more Americans.
“There is no safe way for Americans to travel to Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said. “U.S. citizens, dual nationals, and lawful permanent residents should avoid travel to Venezuela at all costs. No trip is worth the price of freedom.”
Americans often travel to Venezuela with loved ones or partners’ families or to see them. However, these loved ones face similar risks as their American contacts.
“Family members and partners of U.S. nationals are often detained alongside the American traveler. Visiting Venezuela puts other people at risk,” the official added.
The State Department is also warning U.S. nationals that in some cases, even close proximity to the Venezuelan border has led to detention by the country’s government.
That’s what happened to Lucas Hunter, a 37-year-old dual American and French citizen who was captured by the Venezuelan government in January while on a windsurfing trip in Colombia.
Hunter’s family said he never intended to visit Venezuela but that he was coerced across the border by the country’s border guards.
Although Hunter remains in Venezuelan custody, the Trump administration has successfully negotiated the release of seven other Americans.
In January, the Trump administration’s Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell made an usually high-profile trip to Venezuela, where he met with the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, face to face.
At the end of the visit, Grenell returned to the U.S. with six freed Americans.
Last week, Grenell announced in a post on X that another American detained in Venezuela, U.S. Air Force veteran Joseph St. Clair, had been released. The Trump administration has said it has offered no concessions to the Maduro regime in exchange for freeing U.S. nationals.
“That should continue. It needs to continue,” Boehler said of the releases during an interview with ABC News. “Every country in the world needs to know you can have no relationship with the United States if you are holding U.S. citizens.”
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