An American sailor was arrested by Venezuelan authorities on Friday and remains in Venezuelan custody, a U.S. official confirmed to Military.com.
The official said Wednesday that the sailor was “not authorized to travel, meaning he was not on a business trip or on authorized leave” at the time of his arrest. The State Department is working with Venezuelan authorities to secure the sailor’s release, it said.
This sailor is now the third soldier to be held by an enemy country in just over a year: A U.S. soldier was temporarily detained in North Korea, and another soldier is in prison in Russia. News of the sailor’s detention comes just days after the Justice Department announced the seizure of a private jet used by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
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The sailor’s arrest, first reported by CNN, appears to be the latest in a series of events that highlight growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela. Tensions have been building since Venezuela’s July 28 election between Maduro and Edmundo González, which officials from several countries say was rigged by Maduro.
On Monday, a judge allied with Maduro’s government issued an arrest warrant for González after the opposition leader released election results that allegedly showed Maduro had lost the vote, the Associated Press reported.
The State Department has long warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Venezuela because of “a high risk of unlawful detention.”
The travel warning also notes that Venezuelan “security forces detain U.S. citizens for up to five years” and that the U.S. “generally is not informed of the detention of U.S. citizens in Venezuela, nor is it granted access to U.S. citizens detained there.”
The unnamed sailor is just the latest in a series of soldiers who end up in prison in an enemy state for ignoring travel warnings.
In May, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested in Russia and has been in prison there ever since.
Black was assigned to the 8th Army at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, and was scheduled to travel to an Army base in Texas, but instead flew to Russia to meet his girlfriend, Aleksandra Vashchuk. Social media posts showed the two had a relationship for at least a year while she was in South Korea.
Russian state media reported that while Black was staying in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, he got into an argument with Vashchuk, during which he grabbed her by the neck and stole 10,000 rubles – about $115 – and spent the money on his hotel room.
The 34-year-old soldier was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison by a Russian court in June for theft and death threats.
Before Black, Pvt. Travis King attracted international attention in July 2023 when he left a tour group and escaped through the demilitarized zone into North Korea, where he was held for about two months.
King was also stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea and was scheduled to board a plane back to the United States after serving a prison sentence there following a series of arrests by South Korean authorities.
The two cases suggest that the consequences for the seaman currently detained in Venezuela will largely depend on whether US authorities succeed in securing his return.
King’s lawyers said the soldier reached an agreement with the Army just last week to address some of the charges he faces in his escape to North Korea.
The only action the Army has taken against Black since then was to assign him CCA (Confined Civilian Authority) status on May 13, just days before he pleaded guilty in his case.
Related: Soldier who fled to North Korea pleads guilty to desertion and four other charges as part of an agreement
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