55
Alarmed, legal advocates for the Citgo Six quietly
and repeatedly warned the Trump Administra-
tion that if such a visit wasn’t handled properly, the
Maduro regime would seek political retribution. But
Trump proceeded. He invited Guaidó as his guest
to the Feb. 4 State of the Union address, where he
touted him as the “true and legitimate President of
Venezuela.”
The following day, just hours after Trump re-
ceived Guaidó at the White House, the six Ameri-
can executives back in Caracas were seized and again
imprisoned. Jorge Toledo was eating dinner with a
friend when security agents came in and told him
they were taking him to a medical examination. His
friend later told his family that, “He turned pale, like
we was going to pass out,” recalls Añez. When Toledo
tried to pack some belongings, he was told he would
be coming right back. That evening, he and the other
Citgo executives were taken to El Helicoide, a prison
inside a massive pyramid-shaped building that was
originally built to be a shopping center. It would be
42 days before their families would hear from them
again. When they finally received the phone call, theVeronica Vadell
and her husband
Hayes Weggeman at
the Vadell home in
Lake Charles, La.,
in Octoberglobal coronavirus pandemic was already looming
over Venezuela.
Now, family members and legal advocates say the
COVID-19 outbreak could help spur some action as
the U.S. has launched a broader push to bring home
Americans detained abroad on humanitarian grounds
amid fears that the virus could lead to their deaths.
“People are starting to relate to our case in a way they
never would have,” Veronica Vadell says.
The families hardly dare say it, but quietly they
hope that there may be a silver lining to the scourge
that is sweeping the world. Venezuela is bracing
for the terrifying effects of the disease. Maduro an-
nounced a nationwide lockdown on March 16, and
epidemiologists have warned the country will be
especially vulnerable to the outbreak because of its
crippled health system that is already short on hos-
pital beds and basic medical supplies.
Perhaps, the families say, the outbreak will spur
a moment of humanitarianism in the leadership of
the country. If it doesn’t, they fear, the disease could
just as likely be the regime’s indirect death sentence
for six innocent victims of a global power struggle. □WVENEZUELA.indd 55 3/25/20 1:02 PM