Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has recently negotiated the release of his chief financier and two of his nephews through prisoner exchanges with the Biden administration.
Now, the regime is reportedly stockpiling foreign detainees, including Americans, who observers believe could be used as bargaining chips with the new Trump administration and allied countries.
More than 50 foreign passport holders have been imprisoned by Venezuelan security forces since the end of July, when the regime launched a crackdown on opponents who, along with the United States, claim Maduro stole an election he lost.
The majority of the inmates face espionage or terrorism charges.
The growing number of detainees in recent months—more than 2,000 Venezuelans were detained following the July 28 vote—has alarmed the Biden administration and the United Nations office dealing with forced and arbitrary detentions, which have struggled to obtain information on the prisoners from Venezuelan authorities, according to people familiar with the situation.
The most recent foreigner apprehended was Nahuel Gallo, a 33-year-old corporal in Argentina’s gendarmerie stationed to a remote border crossing with Chile.
Gallo was arrested while heading to Venezuela on December 8 to spend the holidays with his wife and toddler, and he was charged with terrorism in a case that outraged Argentine President Javier Milei.
His administration describes the imprisonment as a kidnapping.
Maduro, who will be inaugurated for a third six-year term Friday, denies harboring political prisoners and insists on a fresh start with President-elect Donald Trump, who takes power on January 20.
Maduro’s administration over Venezuela since 2013 has been defined by economic disaster, allegations of election cheating, and the migration of about eight million people, or one-quarter of the population.
In 2022, Venezuela released six US nationals and a US resident in return for two nephews of Maduro’s wife who were serving 18-year terms in the US for cocaine trafficking.
In December 2023, Venezuela swapped 10 American citizens and a high-profile fugitive wanted by the United States for Alex Saab, a prominent regime financier who was facing money-laundering charges in Miami when President Biden pardoned him.
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