Venezuelan regime frees American Citgo director

The American Gustavo Cárdenas, part of the group of six former executives of Citgo oil company convicted in Venezuela for corruption, was released on Tuesday, days after senior White House officials traveled to Venezuela to meet with Nicolás Maduro, reported AFP.

"Confirmed that the person released is Gustavo Cardenas, the other five are still detained", indicated his lawyer, Jesus Loreto, claiming that "someone else is being released, but I don't know where he is, nor who he is."

The six former Citgo executives, known as the "Citgo 6" —five U.S. naturalized citizens and one with permanent residency—have been detained in Venezuela since 2017. The U.S. government has requested on multiple occasions that they be released.

The release of Cardenas, who served as Vice President for Strategic Relations, comes after a Biden Administration delegation visited Maduro over the weekend and banned Russian oil imports to the United States on Tuesday amid sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine.

The meeting between Washington and Caracas was a complete reversal in the disrupted relations between the two governments. The White House has said it does not recognize Maduro's re-election as president in 2018, calling it the voting process "fraudulent."

The conditions under which Cárdenas was released remain unknown. According to Loreto, it is unclear whether he is free of the charges or being released under judicial measures.

On February 4, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) reaffirmed the sentences against the "Citgo 6": 13 years and seven months in prison and a fine of US$ 2 million for José Ángel Pereira Ruimwyk, former president of Citgo; as well as sentences of eight years and ten months in prison for Tomeu Vadell, Jorge Luis Toledo, José Luis Zambrano, and Alirio Zambrano y Cárdenas.