Judge Jails 6 Americans Who Were Lured to Venezuela

A Venezuela judge convicted and immediately sentenced six U.S. oil executives who had been charged with corruption and have been detained for more than three years.

The judge sentenced each of the six executives to eight years imprisonment on Thursday evening, The Associated Press reported. The executives, who work for Houston-based and Venezuela state-owned oil company Citgo, had been lured to the South American country in November 2017 for a business meeting, but were jailed instead.

“During the trial, the truth has proven undeniable,” one of the executives, Tomeu Vadell wrote prior to the verdict in a letter provided to The AP. “It proves that I am innocent.”

However, Venezuela’s chief prosecutor told The AP before Thursday’s verdict that investigators had discovered “serious evidence” of wrongdoing.

“The Citgo case has developed normally during all the stages established by the Venezuelan criminal process,” the chief prosecutor said in a statement, according to The AP.

Three years have passed since the CITGO-6 were wrongfully detained in Venezuela. Their release is long overdue. The @realDonaldTrump Administration remains committed to bringing home all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) November 21, 2020

(Read more from “Judge Jails 6 Americans Who Were Lured to Venezuela” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE