CNN Investigation: They used trumped up charges to try the Citgo 6 7:22
(CNN) --
At least one American from the so-called "Citgo 6" has been released from prison in Venezuela, a lawyer assisting several of the group's members and a spokesperson for a Venezuelan NGO that provides legal assistance told CNN. to prisoners in the country.
Gustavo Cárdenas, a US citizen detained in Caracas since 2017 and one of the six oil executives of the US refinery Citgo, was released from prison on Tuesday night, the lawyer and the NGO said.
The release follows a high-level visit by US officials to Caracas on Saturday, March 5, the first since diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed in 2019.
Lawyers and relatives of the six men, known collectively as the "Citgo 6," have often accused embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro of using the group as "pawns" to put pressure on the US government.
In recent months, the group that was under house arrest was thrown in jail in apparent retaliation for the US extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian financier close to Maduro.
The group is made up of Gustavo Cárdenas, José Ángel Pereira, Jorge Toledo, José Luis Zambrano, Tomeu Vadell and Alirio José Zambrano.
The former directors of Citgo Petroleum Corporation were arrested in 2017 in Caracas on charges of embezzlement, which they deny.
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National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan Gonzalez and US Ambassador James Story met with Maduro and his wife in Caracas to discuss the health of US citizens detained in Venezuela and the status of US sanctions on the Venezuelan oil market, as reported on Monday by both the US and Venezuelan governments.
Cárdenas' current whereabouts are unclear, although former prisoners in similar circumstances in the past were allowed to fly to the United States hours after their release.