AP sources: US hostage envoy visited Venezuela this week
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, and Carstens’ office declined to comment.
