‘Free at last, thank God Almighty’: Americans released by Venezuela return home

“Free at last, thank God Almighty.” These were some of Savoi Wright’s first words upon landing back in the United States on Wednesday night. He is one of the 10 Americans released by Nicolás Maduro’s regime in exchange for Alex Saab, one of the men closest to the Venezuelan leader and his alleged front man. Wright, a Californian who had been detained since late October, arrived with six other people at a San Antonio airport. One of the returnees, Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard,” will not regain his freedom, as he will face U.S. justice in a case of bribery involving the U.S. Navy.

Relatives of Wright, 38, had managed to raise about $25,000 by requesting donations on Gofundme. Savoi, a mortgage loan manager for 15 years “with no political ties of any kind” was arrested in Venezuela on October 24. For more than a month, his family did not know where he was being held. His brother described him as a free soul who had fallen in love with Venezuela, a country he traveled to frequently, as well as Colombia and Brazil. The money was to be used for his legal defense.

Wright’s nightmare lasted 58 days. For Luke Denman and Airan Berry it was much longer. Both were Green Berets in the Army Special Forces. They were accused in May 2020 by the Venezuelan government of taking part in a coup plot along with 60 mercenaries trained in Colombia and employed by the Florida security firm Silvercorp. The failed operation had a name: Gideon.

Eyvin Hernandez, a Los Angeles County public defender, is also among those released Wednesday. The lawyer had been imprisoned in the South American country since March of last year. “For more than 21 months he endured horrible conditions, as well as abuse,” the family said in a statement posted on Facebook. “It is an early Christmas gift for us,” added his relatives, who thanked the efforts of President Joe Biden’s Administration.

Joseph Cristella, originally from Orlando, Florida, lived in the Dominican Republic, where he moved because he found a job. There he fell in love with a Venezuelan woman. He was detained in September 2022 by the Maduro government when he went to visit his fiancée on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. He has been released this week. Jerrel Kenemore suffered the same fate and was detained by Venezuelan authorities in the risky border area between the two South American nations.

“These individuals have lost far too much precious time with their loved ones, and their families have suffered every day in their absence. I am grateful that their ordeal is finally over, and that these families are being made whole once more,” Biden said in a message made public Wednesday. The U.S. president said that six of the people who have returned were unjustly detained.

Fat Leonard to face justice

The case of Fat Leonard is different. Leonard Glenn Francis is a defense contractor who fled the U.S. after a bribery fraud and returned in handcuffs and wearing a prisoner jumpsuit to face a federal judge for the first time.

Francis was arrested in San Diego almost a decade ago and accused of offering $500,000 in bribes to Navy personnel to obtain contracts worth $35 million. The scandal led to the arrest of around 20 Navy officials whom he had corrupted by organizing luxurious parties with alcohol, Kobe meat, cigars, tickets to concerts and shows. He also hosted parties with prostitutes in Thailand and the Philippines.

He pleaded guilty in 2015. He was then living under house arrest in a rented house. Prosecutors lost track of him last year, when his ankle monitor stopped emitting signals days before a court hearing. He then fled to Mexico and Cuba. He was arrested in September 2022 when he was about to board a flight in Caracas, where he had requested asylum in the hope that the rivalry between Venezuela and the United States would prevent his extradition.

The relationship between the two countries has since thawed. The fugitive appeared Thursday in a federal court in Miami. Judge Jacqueline Becerra has ordered him to return to the courts of the Southern District of California, where his trial will continue. The Prosecutor’s Office, however, has announced that it will file more charges against him for trying to evade justice.

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