Trump brings home American hostages through policy and focus, experts say
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https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-american-hostages-home-policy-experts
Since President Trump took office more than two-and-a-half years ago, he has touted his prowess at being able to bring U.S citizens wrongfully held abroad home – framing it as a coup the Obama administration was not able to do as effectively.
Partisan politics aside – families, lawmakers and activists alike have indicated that a hardline focus on bringing Americans is yielding results.
“What has changed under the Trump administration is the level of personal interest and engagement from the President. Trump has made it clear that he views the return of American hostages as a priority and regularly touts his success,” Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and author of “We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom,” told Fox News. “The hostage families I speak with appreciate the attention the President gives the issue, but some policy experts worry that the same attention could increase the risk by making clear the potential value of American hostages.”
To date, at least 21 hostages held abroad have been freed throughout Trump’s first term. They range from a former CIA officer, Sabrina de Sousa, who was held in Portugal for more than 18 months at the request of Italian prosecutors and an Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi who was imprisoned in Cairo for three years. Then there was American businesswoman Sandy Phan-Gillis who was released from China, and Caitlin Coleman and her family her were discharged by the Haqqani network in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area in 2017.
Meanwhile, American Joshua Holt was released from years in a Venezuelan prison, Pastor Andrew Brunson was let go in Turkey, and more recently NASA scientist Serkan Golge was released in late May. Moreover, just five days after Kimberly Endicott was kidnapped along with her tour guide in Uganda earlier this year, the California-based grandmother was promptly freed – with a murmured cash exchange – and swift coordination between Ugandan and U.S. officials.
“The Trump administration has been pro-active about achieving the release of unfairly detained or captured Americans,” concurred Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “It has done this through direct engagement with foreign leaders such as Egypt or North Korea, indirect engagement via proxy – such as UAE helping to release a hostage in Yemen, and sanctions – against Turkish ministers. The President has certainly prioritized this more than other presidents.”
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7 Americans released from detention in Venezuela, Biden says - ABC News (go.com)
Seven Americans detained in Venezuela have been released, the White House announced Saturday.
"Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath and Osman Khan," President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Five of the individuals released were oil executives who were part of the "Citgo 6" group that was jailed in 2017 after being arrested on corruption charges when they were called to the country for a meeting. Earlier this year, Venezuela released the sixth oil executive, Gustavo Cardenas.
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