We welcome the release of six wrongfully detained US citizens from Venezuela — Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, José Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan — as well as US legal permanent residents Jose Pereira. After months of extraordinary effort and perseverance throughout the State Department and the broader US government, these wrongfully detained Americans and lawful permanent residents are free and will soon be reunited with their loved ones. I thank the President’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and our entire State Department team for their tireless efforts to achieve this outcome.
While we celebrate the release of this US citizen from Venezuela, we still have more work to do. The safety and security of Americans around the world is my highest priority as Secretary of State, and we will continue to press for the release of all US citizens wrongfully detained abroad.
