US hostage envoy visited Venezuela to meet jailed Americans

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that a senior U.S. diplomat quietly traveled to Venezuela this week and met with imprisoned Americans in an ongoing effort to secure their release. The Biden administration believes the men are being held as bargaining chips by a top U.S. adversary. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, arrived in Caracas on a chartered flight Tuesday evening and returned home Friday in a previously unreported visit. The Maduro government has kept mum about the surprise visit, but Carstens has confirmed the visit, saying, “It was a good thing to see the guys, to show them that their government cares.”