The family of Joseph St. Clair, a 33-year-old U.S. Air Force combat veteran unlawfully imprisoned in Venezuela since last year, thanked the Trump administration Tuesday for his release.
Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump's envoy for special missions, secretly traveled to Antigua on Tuesday to meet with top Venezuelan officials and secure St. Clair's release.
"This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it — but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude," St. Clair's parents, Scott and Patti, said in a statement to Newsmax.
The family extended "heartfelt thanks" to Trump; Grenell; Adam Boehler, Trump's top hostage envoy; Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism; consultant Jon Franks; and the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs team "for their leadership, commitment and care in helping to bring St. Clair home."
They also recognized the support provided by advocacy groups such as The James Foley Foundation, Bring Our Families Home, and HostageUS.
"We remain in prayer and solidarity with the families of those who are still being held," Scott and Patti St. Clair said. "We will never stop loving and supporting them as they continue their fight to be reunited with their loved ones."
The St. Clair family requested privacy as they reunite and begin the healing process.
Stars and Stripes reported in May that St. Clair and a friend from Colombia were traveling as tourists near the Venezuelan border in October when Venezuelan authorities arrested them. After being detained, St. Clair was transported across the border to a prison that has been condemned by human rights groups for abuse violations, according to his family.
"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 told Stars and Stripes. "They were shaken down, questioned and searched. All their possessions were taken."
Democrat Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, where the St. Clair family lives, sent Trump a letter May 2 asking that he personally seek St. Clair's release. St. Clair was as a tech sergeant in the Air Force until 2019, when he was honorably discharged after nine years of service.
Little more than a week after Trump took office, Grenell earned the release of six Americans detained by Venezuela's government under dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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