US Veteran Freed From Venezuelan Prison After Latest Trump Diplomacy With Maduro

In another diplomatic win for the Trump administration, a US Air Force veteran unlawfully imprisoned in Venezuela has been released on Tuesday, following secret talks with President Nicolás Maduro’s representatives and Trump’s special envoy Ric Grenell.

Joseph St. Clair, a 33-year-old combat-disabled veteran, had been detained in Venezuela since November, and was one of nine Americans declared by Washington as ‘wrongfully detained’.

“This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it — but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” parents Scott and Patti St. Clair said.

Few initial details of his release or the terms of any possible deal or incentives offered Maduro have not been forthcoming. However, Grenell’s talks with Venezuelan officials, reportedly in Antigua, likely focused on both oil and the migrant crisis.

Conservative news outlet Newsmax says it “learned that Grenell and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday extended the waivers for U.S. companies’ oil licenses in Venezuela by 60 days.”

Clearly the Maduro government is ready to engage in top-level negotiations with Washington, in hopes for sanctions relief, and in return it is likely also willing to take back migrants.

According to background on St. Clair’s arrest last year:

Air Force veteran Joe St. Clair, their 33-year-old son, was traveling as a tourist near the Venezuelan border in October 2024 when he and a friend from Colombia were arrested by Venezuelan authorities, who transported them across the border to a Venezuelan prison, his family said. “We learned that Joe decided to take a trip near the border with one of his friends to visit [the friend’s] family member and got too close to the border and got abducted by the Venezuelan police,” Scott St. Clair explained.

“They were shaken down, questioned and searched. All their possessions were taken.” St. Clair said he was told the border is “fluid,” and that Venezuelan authorities detain Americans as bargaining chips to gain leverage against the U.S. to ease restrictions placed on the country. Joe is a linguist who served as a tech sergeant in the Air Force until 2019. He was honorably discharged after nine years of service, his family said.

He had actually been deployed on four combat tours in Afghanistan. It’s unclear whether the two travelers were inside Venezuelan territory or not.

This follows an initial big release of six Americans from Venezuela back in late January…

Venezuela frees 6 Americans after meeting between President Maduro and Trump’s envoy https://t.co/ZUdtlS1M20 pic.twitter.com/cc8nqhnc7O

— New York Post (@nypost) February 1, 2025

St. Clair’s parents had been very active in public lobbying for his freedom, calling on President Trump to “act now to save Joe and his fellow captives” at various events and rallies, including in D.C.

Trump has of late been emphasizing a foreign policy message of peace through strength and dealmaking and diplomacy, as opposed to the chaos of proxy wars and conflict.