Houston's remaining 'Citgo 6' members freed after being lured to Venezuela in 2017

The last of the so-called “Citgo 6” have been freed from prison in Venezuela and are on their way home, bringing resolution to the nearly five-year ordeal. The release of the Houston oil executives came Saturday after a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuela, whose President Nicolás Maduro demanded in exchange clemency for two family members jailed in the U.S. on drug smuggling convictions. Negotiations between the U.S. and Venezuela reignited earlier this year as American officials sought new fuel sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tightened global supplies and sent energy prices soaring. Venezuela released the first of the six executives of Houston-based Citgo Petroleum — Gustavo Cárdenas — in March and the U.S. began to ease crippling sanctions against the oil-producing nation in May.

The Citgo 6 executives were ensnared in Venezuela in 2017, lured there for what they were told was a budget meeting for PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company and Citgo parent company. Once in Venezuela, they were arrested by masked men with rifles and accused of conspiring to sell off $4 billion in Citgo bonds for their own personal gain. The remaining men — Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira — were released Saturday. Alexandra Zambrano Forseth said in an interview earlier this year that she was among many who voiced concerns about her father, Alirio Zambrano, suddenly being summoned to Venezuela, but “he just said, ‘What can I do? I have to go.’” Her uncle, José Luis Zambrano, also was requested at the meeting. "The Zambrano family is thrilled that my dad, uncle and the other innocent Americans are free," Forseth said in a statement Saturday. "After almost five years, my dad and uncle are now able to get the much-needed medical care they need in the United States and be reunited with us." The Citgo executives were deprived of due process, the Houston company said in a statement.