No U.S. prisoner exchange with Venezuela for California lawyer, despite rumors

The United States is not currently negotiating prisoner exchange deals with Venezuela, two U.S. officials said, after the Biden administration received a letter from an American detained in the South American country claiming negotiations were underway. 

Eyvin Hernandez, a Salvadoran-American public defender for the City of Los Angeles, was unlawfully detained by Maduro officials at the border between Colombia and Venezuela on March 31, 2022 when he ventured to a small mountain town with a friend.

The Venezuelan regime accused him of illegally entering the country, but Hernandez has claimed he is innocent and the U.S. State Department declared him “wrongfully detained” in October. 

Hernandez previously said he was kidnapped by men who hooded him and transported him from a Colombian rural area into Venezuelan territory where he was imprisoned at an installation. 

Hernandez recently sent a letter directly addressed to President Joe Biden, in which he states that he is aware of a potential deal between the two countries that would exchange him and other U.S. nationals for Colombian Businessman Alex Saab. Saab is facing money laundering charges in the U.S. in connection to a bribery scheme linked to Venezuela’s regime.

"I'm making this appeal to you on behalf of myself, my family, my friends, and all the other U.S. Americans that are here, unlawfully detained in Venezuela," Hernandez said. "We know that we will be released if you make a trade for Alex Saab for all of us."

However, a U.S. official, speaking in terms of anonymity, said that Hernandez was “possibly coerced” into writing that letter to get the U.S. to consider a prisoner swap for Saab. U.S. officials have since said no such negotiations are underway. 

The official added that there can’t be any active negotiations “about releasing a major U.S. criminal suspect who hasn’t even gone to trial.” No date has been set for Saab’s trial.

Hernandez’s brother, Henry Martinez, told Reuters that their family had not received any official information from the government about any possible exchange. 

In March 2022, the Biden administration oversaw the release of seven Americans in exchange for two of Maduro’s relatives held in the U.S. over drug trafficking charges.