An American Navy sailor has been detained in Venezuela while visiting the country on personal travel, three U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News.
It’s not yet known why the sailor is being detained.
The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning against visiting Venezuela, urging Americans to “reconsider travel due to wrongful detentions, terrorism, and poor health infrastructure.”
The detention was first reported by CNN.
One of the officials told CBS News the sailor was not on approved leave by the U.S. military or on official travel to Venezuela at the time of the detention.
The U.S. and Venezuela have a tense relationship as several administrations have tried to pressure the autocratic Venezuelan government to tamp down on corruption.
Venezuela held elections earlier this year, but the Biden administration has questioned the results that kept President Nicolas Maduro in power. The State Department said in an August statement that “Nicolás Maduro and his representatives have tampered with the results of that election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. seized Maduro’s plane, which is Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One, over alleged sanctions violations.
This marks the third high-profile detention of a U.S. service member in a little over a year in a country with a rocky relationship with the U.S. Army Private Travis King was detained after crossing into North Korea in July 2023, Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was detained in Russia in May of this year, and now, the U.S. Navy sailor in Venezuela.
King was released back to the U.S. after just over two months in North Korean custody and is facing a court martial in Texas later this month. He is expected to plead guilty to desertion, according to his attorney. A Russian court in June sentenced Black to almost four years in jail.