Hostage families to Biden: 'Bring our fellow Americans home'

2 years ago 150

WASHINGTON – Relatives of much than 2 twelve American hostages and wrongful detainees held overseas told President Joe Biden successful a missive connected Monday that they questioned his administration's committedness to bringing their loved ones home.

In the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, the household members complained that the medication seemed to beryllium getting “bogged down successful burdensome processes oregon argumentation debates that support our loved ones from coming location and support america uninformed of what you tin and cannot bash to assistance us.”

“We request to beryllium shown that the promises of your medication to prioritize the instrumentality of our household members are not empty. Now is the clip for action. Now we request you to bring our chap Americans home,” the missive states.

The missive reflects increasing concerns wrong the hostage assemblage that the Biden administration's overseas argumentation docket does not prioritize the merchandise of hostages, and that ineligible and governmental actions person analyzable alternatively than precocious efforts to get captives released. In immoderate cases, the missive to Biden asserts, the families consciousness arsenic if they're successful a “worse” concern present than 8 months ago.

The U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan without bringing location Mark Frerichs, an American contractor abducted determination successful aboriginal 2020. Six American lipid executives who'd been nether location apprehension successful Venezuela were ordered backmost to jailhouse this period pursuing the extradition to the U.S. connected corruption charges of a businessman who prosecutors accidental was a large conduit for corruption by President Nicolás Maduro’s interior circle.

The Biden squad has been abbreviated connected high-profile detainee and hostages releases truthful far. It was an country of keen involvement to President Donald Trump, who successful keeping with his unconventional attack to overseas argumentation appeared unfastened to outside-the-box machinations with respect to hostage negotiations, specified arsenic a high-level but yet unsuccessful travel to Damascus aimed astatine getting writer Austin Tice home. He besides invited American captives who'd been freed during his medication to look with him astatine the 2020 Republican National Convention.

The families enactment successful the missive that they were optimistic pursuing a February telephone with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Since then, though, they accidental they person been incapable to conscionable with Biden oregon with his nationalist information adviser, Jake Sullivan, “which leads america to judge that your medication is not prioritizing negotiations and different methods to unafraid their release.

“When we bash conscionable with different officials we consciousness we are being kept successful the acheronian astir what the U.S. authorities intends to bash to escaped our loved ones,” the missive says.

The White House had nary contiguous remark Monday.

The missive was signed by household members of 26 American hostages and detainees held successful countries crossed the world. That includes the parent of Trevor Reed, a Marine imprisoned successful Moscow connected charges of assaulting a constabulary serviceman successful Russia; the sister of Frerichs, and the woman of Jeffrey Woodke, an assistance idiosyncratic taken from his location successful Niger successful 2016.

“We person heard a batch of affirmative speech astir making Mark and the different cases a nationalist priority, but we are not seeing actions to bring them home," Frerichs's sister, Charlene Cakora, said successful a connection to the AP. "There are solutions for galore of these cases – including my brother’s, which could person been solved past summertime – but we are not sensing immoderate urgency connected the portion of the White House. For families, each 2nd a loved 1 is kept detained is an eternity.”

Others who signed see the families of 9 Americans jailed successful Venezuela, who joined unneurotic much than a week agone successful a abstracted captious missive of the White House attack to their cases.

The deficiency of urgency is particularly troubling to the household of José Pereira, the erstwhile president of Houston-based CITGO, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s authorities owned lipid company. Over the weekend, Pereira was rushed from jailhouse to a backstage session successful Caracas for exigency attraction for a cardiac information that his household says hasn’t received aesculapian attraction since his detention 4 years ago.

John Pereira says that though the Biden medication isn’t to blasted for his father’s apprehension helium expected much from the caller U.S. president.

“Our feeling is that they tin bash more,” said Pereira, who on with the families of 8 different American detainees successful Caracas sent their ain missive to Biden a week agone urging U.S. officials to beryllium down and speech straight with Maduro’s government.

“This goes beyond politics. It’s a humanitarian issue. They person to beryllium down to talk.”

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Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman successful Miami contributed to this report.

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Follow Eric Tucker connected Twitter astatine http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

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