More Americans jailed in Venezuela pose test of Trump's deal-making foreign policy

David Estrella and other Americans detained in Venezuela face uncertain futures as Maduro's regime targets foreigners.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in for a third term Friday (January 10, 2025), while hundreds of government opponents arrested since his disputed reelection last summer languish in the country's packed prisons.

Sharing cells with them are as many as 10 Americans.

One is David Estrella, who was last heard from in September, when the 62-year-old native New Yorker was about to take a taxi from Colombia to Venezuela with a bag of perfume, clothes and shoes to gift to friends he made on a previous trip.

Also Read | Venezuela opposition seeks army backing, leader to meet Biden

“It's like mourning someone in life,” said Margarita Estrella, his ex-wife and mother of three of his children, the youngest of whom just turned 18. “We don't know anything about where he is, or how he's doing. Without being able to talk to him, to hear his voice, so he knows all we're trying to do for him, makes it a lot worse.”

The circumstances around the arrest of David Estrella and the other Americans are not well known. Most have not had access to a lawyer and only limited contact with family members, who worry they could be subject to torture, as past American detainees have alleged.

None has been declared wrongfully detained by the State Department, a designation that would give their cases more attention. Because the U.S. has a diplomatic presence in Venezuela, their families can face a long process pushing for their release.