Latest news with #LucasHunter
Straits Times
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
France welcomes release of Franco-American national held in Venezuela
Find out what's new on ST website and app. PARIS - France on Monday welcomed the release of Lucas Hunter, a Franco-American national, who has been detained in Venezuela since January, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. "France applauds the efforts of the U.S State Department to secure his release," it said. Hunter, 37, was among 10 Americans detained in Venezuela, whose release was announced by U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. The release was part of a coordinated prisoner exchange, with El Salvador's government sending detained Venezuelans home in exchange for the return to the U.S. of 10 Americans held in Venezuela. REUTERS
Reuters
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
France welcomes release of Franco-American national held in Venezuela
PARIS, July 21 (Reuters) - France on Monday welcomed the release of Lucas Hunter, a Franco-American national, who has been detained in Venezuela since January, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. "France applauds the efforts of the U.S State Department to secure his release," it said. Hunter, 37, was among 10 Americans detained in Venezuela, whose release was announced by U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. The release was part of a coordinated prisoner exchange, with El Salvador's government sending detained Venezuelans home in exchange for the return to the U.S. of 10 Americans held in Venezuela.
New York Times
19-07-2025
- New York Times
A Kite Surfer, Navy SEAL and Makeup Artist: Freed in a U.S.-Venezuela Swap
A kite surfer on a South American adventure. A Navy SEAL whose family said he had traveled south for romance. A gay makeup artist who fled north for a better life. A man who sold bicycle parts for meager wages in Venezuela, before leaving for the United States. All of these men were part of a large-scale prisoner swap conducted Friday between the United States and Venezuela's governments. The deal exchanged 10 Americans and U.S. permanent residents seized by the Venezuelan government for 252 Venezuelan immigrants the United States had deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. The men came from very different backgrounds. The American kite surfer, Lucas Hunter, 37, worked in finance in London and had gone on vacation in Colombia, where his family says he was nabbed by the Venezuelan authorities near the Colombia-Venezuela border. The Navy SEAL, Wilbert Castañeda, 37, spent his adult life in the U.S. military and had gone to Venezuela to see a romantic partner, according to his brother. The Venezuelans, according to many of their families, had traveled to the United States for far different reasons. Many had trekked from South America through a dangerous jungle called the Darién Gap, seeking to escape an economic crisis and a repressive government. The makeup artist, Andry Hernández Romero, fled persecution for his political opinions and sexual orientation, according to his lawyers. The seller of bicycle parts, Alirio Belloso, 30, left because he could not afford school supplies for his 8-year-old daughter or medicine for his diabetic mother, according to his wife. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Barrot hails release of Franco-American tourist in prisoner swap in Venezuela
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Saturday hailed his American counterparts for their role in securing the release of the Franco-American tourist Lucas Hunter who had been held in Venezuela since January. "I would like to praise the efforts of the US Department of State for helping to secure his freedom," said Barrot on social media. Hunter, 37, who works in finance in London, was taken into custody in January by Venezuelan security services while travelling along the border with Colombia. He was freed as part of a deal which brought the release of 10 jailed US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the return of scores of migrants deported by the US to El Salvador under the American administration's immigration crackdown. During her campaign to secure her brother's release, Sophie Hunter told the French news agency AFP: "He hasn't done anything wrong. He's not a political activist and he has no military affiliations. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Three way deal The three-country arrangement represents a diplomatic achievement for the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and helps President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a swap that he proposed in April. 'Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,' said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. Venezuela has a history of detaining American citizens as apparent bargaining chips. Under the administration of Joe Biden, the US negotiated prisoner swaps to bring home a number of Americans who had been wrongfully held in Venezuela. US Special Envoy Ric Grenell travelled to Caracas in January to meet Maduro and secured the release of six Americans who were detained there.
CNN
18-04-2025
- CNN
Sister describes moment she found out her brother had been taken by Venezuela
French-American Lucas Hunter was travelling around Colombia to kite surf along the coast, sending his sister regular updates about the places he was visiting. But on January 7, he told her something else and has not been heard from since.
