Venezuela frees US Air Force veteran considered wrongfully detained, his family says

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A United States Air Force veteran, who the U.S. government had determined to be wrongfully detained in Venezuela, was released from custody Tuesday.

Joseph St. Clair was handed over to U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, according to a statement from the veteran’s family and a post on X from the official. The family said St. Clair, who had served four tours in Afghanistan, was detained in November.

“This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it, but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” St. Clair’s parents, Scott and Patti, said in a statement.

Scott St. Clair told The Associated Press earlier this month that his son, a language specialist, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Joe St. Clair is back in America,” Grenell posted on X along with four photos, including one showing him and the veteran on a runway and another of both sitting inside an airplane. Grenell added, without providing details, that he met Venezuelan officials “in a neutral country” on Tuesday “to negotiate an America First strategy.”

Six other Americans detained in Venezuela in the months after the country’s July presidential election were freed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro after he met Grenell in February.

Grenell, during the meeting in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country.

Last week, Maduro thanked Trump and Grenell for allowing a 2-year-old girl to reunite with her mother, who had been deported to Venezuela in April. Maduro described the U.S. government’s decision to send the girl to Venezuela as a “profoundly humane” act.

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