WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Venezuela detained at least three U.S. citizens earlier this year accused of trying to enter the South American country illegally and is currently holding them, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government has sought to keep the three Americans’ arrests quiet while continuing nascent diplomatic contacts with the Biden administration, the source said. The three men being detained are in addition to eight other Americans long known to have been jailed in Venezuela.
The Associated Press was first to report on the three additional prisoners.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Leslie Adler)
