Free Jerrel Kenemore, American held in Venezuela | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

Free Jerrel Kenemore, American held in Venezuela

SPEAKERS

Daren Nair, Jeana Kenemore Tillery

Daren Nair  00:05

Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. We work to free hostages and the unjustly detained around the world. Together with their families, we share their stories and let you know how you can help bring them home.

Elizabeth Whelan  00:18

Now when it comes to using the family to get... for Russia to get what they want, if that's the case, they've picked the wrong family, because I'm not going to carry water for the Russian authorities.

Daren Nair  00:28

These are some of the most courageous and resilient people among us.

Mariam Claren  00:32

I never thought that my mother, Nahid Taghavi, will ever have a link to negotiations in Vienna about the JCPOA. That's so crazy.

Daren Nair  00:43

People who have never given up hope.

Paula Reed  00:46

Trevor told his girlfriend to tell me to... to be strong. So, I'm trying to be strong for Trevor.

Joey Reed  00:50

 Now, if Trevor can cope with what he's dealing with...

Paula Reed  00:53

Exactly.

Joey Reed  00:53

We can sure cope with the stress.

Daren Nair  00:55

People who will never stop working to reunite their families. 

Joey Reed  01:00

We'd like to meet with the President. We believe that you, know, he has... he's surrounded by lots of experienced and educated advisors. But I don't believe that any of them have ever had a child taken hostage by a foreign country, especially not a superpower like Russia.

Daren Nair  01:15

And we will be right there by their side until their loved one comes back home.

Richard Ratcliffe  01:20

Because if enough people care, then the right people will care enough.

Daren Nair  01:24

I'm Daren Nair, and I've been campaigning with many of these families for years. When I first started campaigning with these families, I noticed they struggled to get the media attention they needed. So, I decided to create this podcast, which is a safe space for the families to speak as long as they need to about their loved ones, and what needs to be done to bring them home.

Mariam Claren  01:45

Nobody can prepare you for what our family's going through. Even if someone had told me one year before, in one year, this is going to happen, prepare yourself. It's impossible.

Daren Nair  01:59

Thank you for listening, and welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. American citizen, Jerrel Kenemore, from Dallas, Texas has been wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela since March this year. The US government classified Jerrel as being wrongfully detained, meaning his case will now be handled by the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and his team. Venezuela is notorious for taking innocent Americans captive on false charges and using them as leverage to extract concessions from the United States. This is state-sponsored hostage-taking, also known as hostage diplomacy. The US State Department's travel advisory for Venezuela currently has a level four "do not travel" rating. The following is the first paragraph from that travel advisory. "Do not travel to Venezuela due to crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, kidnapping, and the arrest and detention of US citizens without due process or fair trial guarantees. Exercise increased caution in Venezuela due to terrorism and wrongful detentions." Today, we have the honour of speaking to Jerrel's sister, Jeana Kenemore Tillery, who is joining us from Texas. Jeana, we're so sorry for what you, Jerrel and your family are going through. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us today.

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  03:25

Thank you for having us. I'm representing the family. So, thank you for having me and letting us tell our story.

Daren Nair  03:33

You're very welcome. Can you please walk us through what happened to your brother, Jerrel?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  03:39

Well, he has been... he had been living in Colombia since 2019. And he had met a woman there that he had fallen in love with, and their relationship progressed over the last couple of years. And she had a marriage that she is trying to settle her affairs with, a previous marriage, and custody dispute. And she, although they lived in Colombia, actually was from Venezuela. So, Jerrel, was trying to help her settle her affairs and settle a custody dispute by meeting with her ex-husband in Venezuela, and settling the debt on the house that his fiancee and her ex-husband had owned together and settling their affairs with their custody dispute. And so, he and Yasmina had travelled to Venezuela. And they were able to travel, because they had all their papers. He had his up to date travel papers, his passport. Everything was in order, and so he was allowed to travel into the country. And this was two weeks prior to his actual arrest. And then they had crossed back over, after purchasing the house and making an agreement with her ex-husband, and they were at a grocery store in... in and around the Colombian-Venezuela border. And, as... as I understand it, they were... Most of the family was inside the store, but Jerrel and a couple of the people... I think he was with three different people that actually got arrested with him. There was a naval captain. I'm sorry, so many details. But anyway, there were some people that were actually with him while his family was inside the store. And, at that time, he was abducted by a mass gang with guns. And he was held for three days before he was turned over to the port, immigration port, there in Venezuela. And at that time, he was detained and arrested on counter-intelligence charges, as well as being an American spy working against the Maduro regime. And so, I was told first that he had been abducted, because we did not know his location, or that he had wound up in the DGCIM, as it's called. And his fiancee at the time, she's still his fiancee, sorry, she had geolocated him and found out that he was in the... the DGCIM. And so, at that time, she notified us of what had happened. And it was... Mainly, she had been able to reach out to my brother's sons here in America, and they had contacted me. And for the first month, I really wasn't involved other than to just be supportive. His sons were the ones that were trying to contact the, you know, the State Department and the Colombian Embassy. And so, they didn't get very far. And they were getting a lot of phone tag, and, you know, just generally not getting much... much progress, getting his case, at least, you know, started with the United States. And so, I decided at that time, that I would step up for the family. And so, for the last eight months that he's been in the DGCIM, I've been the representative for the family, and I've worked with the State Department. And I also have spoken with the UN. And I've started a case with them for the humane, er, human rights violations. And there's some torture that I had to report to them. And just... I've spent most of the last eight months kind of not knowing what would happen for my brother, not knowing if he would even be declared by the United States Department. But finally, over the last month, we were able to, because he was in hunger strike, the original hunger strike that he started in October. He had made it to about 22 days. And finally, he was declared by the United States Department or the US State Department. And so, I was able to get him to stop the first hunger strike. So, at that time, he had done a total of 27 days out of October, that he had not eaten. And I was thinking things were gonna calm down a little bit, and that we could just be patient for the US State Department to do what they needed to do. And obviously, I was working with the UN, but I thought that it would be my... my time to just sit back and let them do what they need to do. And just keep, you know, taking care of Jerrel as much as I can, you know, by sending medications and food and supplies to him as well as just providing any updates on his condition, anything I could do to help, you know, my government and... and over the last week, I had noticed I don't get a lot of phone calls from Jerrel now. Prior to his being declared by the State Department, we had been getting phone calls every day up until, you know, with the exception of Saturday. And so, I was talking to him 15 minutes a day for months. And, you know, it wasn't a great situation, obviously. But I was able to keep him calm, and I was able to keep him positive, and... And then, over the last week, there was a prisoner that he had not known about before, a man named Igbert Chaparro. He's also in the DGCIM, another prisoner there. He's been there almost five years. And he's been, we assume, at this point, because we've never seen him before, that he was in isolation. And that's what I understand at this time. He was detained simply because he was the contact in someone else's phone. And so, I don't know more than that. But I do know that he's put out a public letter, and he's been on a hunger strike himself. And that, given that the treatment from the DGCIM has actually become worse, it seems. I should say that my brother is a very... he's a good man, he really is a good man, but he... he has some depression, and he has some anger issues. And he has an issue, mainly the feel... dealing with opposition. So, with he and the sub-director of the DGCIM, it's become back and forth rivalry. And I think Jerrel just couldn't resist the challenge. And I feel like sometimes he's been not necessarily compliant. He's certainly not been always agreeable. But he's not done anything to try and, you know, receive the... the treatment that he's received now. He can only call us twice a week for five minutes. And those calls have... Lately, they've been very concerning, hearing some things in my brother's voice. As someone who's... who knows his mental health history, I knew that he... I felt like he was doing better because of the declaration. But I've started to understand from him that his treatment has gotten worse. He seems... the... he seems to believe that the sub-director has a personal vendetta against him. And so, at this time, he had rejoined his hunger strike again, with this Igbert Chaparro. And so they're both doing it now. But on Sunday, that was the last day that I had spoken to Jerrel. And he was very, very agitated. And he spent a lot of the time just ranting to me about what had been happening to him there. And I was working, you know, as I had spoken to the State Department the night before. And they had asked me to do what I could to try and get him to start eating again. And to not... In the beginning, he was saying that his protest was just as much about what had been happening to the Venezuelan prisoners, as what's happening to the American prisoners. And I believe that the State Department was encouraging us to focus on his release, and... at this time. And so, I was hoping during this call, it turned out to be 18 minutes, which was more than I was allowed, you know. At the beginning, they had... they said, very strictly five minute calls. And so, I do believe that they felt like I was trying to be helpful. And so, they allowed us to talk longer, and I thought I was gonna have him convinced to stop this hunger strike, and he just became irate on the phone. And I knew that he was struggling mentally already. So I, obviously, was very concerned, and I was trying to talk to him, and that is when he told me that he won't eat until his fiancee, who was arrested for taking him medicine about three days after he was there. He won't stop his hunger strike until she's released. So that is where we are at this time. I've not been able to speak to him since Sunday. I have begged the DGCIM to let me talk to him. I've tried to explain to them. I know I'm not supposed to do that. And I... I don't usually do that. But in the situation with him right now, I'm very concerned about his suicide... suicidal ideation. And because of his history, and because of the fact that he has already attempted suicide twice, while he's been in the... the... in the situation. And he, both times has tried to hang himself in a cell with a sheet. And I feel like they know that he is suicidal, and that they know that this is a risk. And I feel like I'm probably the only one that could really help him, but they won't let me talk to him. So, at this point, I don't have more information about what's happening with him than that.

Daren Nair  16:18

Jeana, I'm so sorry for that. I know it can be very tough. Sometimes, it's tougher being the person watching a loved one go through this than going through it yourself, because you feel helpless, and you don't have as much control of the situation.

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  16:40

Feels like I'm in the cage with him. It really does. We... we were very close as kids, and we always stuck by each other, and through all kinds of things that we've been through in our lives. So, I mean, for us, this is... it almost feels like it's us against the world. And until the State Department had declared him, you know, I just didn't have a lot of evidence that it wasn't just us. But you know, I do feel better since he's been declared and he's in SPEHA, now. I do feel like they're doing a good job and taking, you know, taking him, you know, his case seriously and doing what they can. So, I'm not hopeless. But yeah, you're right. It's very, very hard. It's extremely traumatic. It does feel like I'm in the cage with him. Most of the time, when he's not doing his hunger strikes, or when he is doing his hunger strikes, I'm a lot of times... I can't eat. And I struggle with nightmares, feeling like I'm... you know, it's his life in my hands. And now it feels like it's his family's lives in my hands, too. I've become very attached to them through text and communication that way. I can actually talk to his fiancee. She's able to have a phone, so I'm able to talk to her. And you know, they're... It's just a lot of pressure. So, you know, that's nothing you can prepare yourself for, nothing you can ever imagine that will happen to you, until it does.

Daren Nair  18:31

Again, I'm so sorry. And you're not alone. There are many families going through this as well. There are many NGOs and campaigners helping out as well, where they can...

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  18:41

Yes.

Daren Nair  18:41

However they can. I guess I wouldn't say it's a positive, it's more like a silver lining. It's my understanding that he is being held with other prisoners, and he's not... your brother is not in isolation. Is that true?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  18:55

No. No, he's not in isolation. They don't get to be together a lot. And as I understand it, during this phase of, you know, him being kind of a target for the sub-director, he's being isolated, but not kept in isolation. It's just they won't allow his cell door to be open most of the time. And so he's also not allowed to interact with the other prisoners and not allowed to share supplies or any of the other things that, you know, would be beneficial to having cellmates. So, it he's... his biggest thing is he's relied on his faith a lot during this, and pretty much the only joy he was able to have is he had begun leading Bible Studies and worship services for the other, with the other cellmates, and they've taken that away from him as a punishment, because they know that it means so much to him. So, he's spending a lot of his time that he would be able to worship with the other cellmates, he's having to do it alone in his cell. And I just keep encouraging him to just keep reading the passages, you know, that... that mean so much to him. And, you know, that... that's been the hardest violation of all for him, I think. He's... you know, you could take his water away. They did take his water away for three days. They... Once, I sent him a tea kettle and some teas, and they gave him his teas, but they would not let him have any water for three days. And that was just devastating. And that was during his first hunger strike in October. That was punishment for his hunger strike. So we have learned the hard way, that there's just not a lot of comfort that I can give to him. And even the stuff that I'm sending to him is often being withheld from him. So, it's very hard. And the other thing I wanted to say was that, I feel like at this point, the most important thing for me to say is that I can't get supplies to him at this time, because of the rivalry and the problems that he's having with the sub-director. And so, I don't know if he's going to have medicine, his antidepressants or his heart medication much longer. And his family has been harassed and very badly treated the last time they did take him supplies. And they were told never to go back there and threatened with incarceration themselves. And one of my family members, my niece, she was actually, in my mind, sexually assaulted, but I guess it's a search. So, the sexual harassment and the search. And so, now I have no way to get him medication or teas or anything. The food that they give them is very minimal. He describes it as very bland rice. And so there's not much to eat, even when he is eating at this point. The visits that he was getting were his basically the best... the best food he was gonna get. And he's not receiving video... visits anymore. So anyway, that's... that's something I felt like was important to tell you.

Daren Nair  22:52

Absolutely. That's useful information for our listeners. You also brought up heart medication.

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  22:59

Yes.

Daren Nair  23:00

 So, I take it he has some pre-existing health conditions. Can you elaborate further?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  23:06

Yes, he has a heart condition. He has to take medication for that. And I don't... I wouldn't say that... that he gets true medical care. Think it's mainly there for absolute emergencies. And even then, it's basic... basic medical care. So, if there was an issue with his heart, or if he needed to have true cardiac treatment of any kind, that he wouldn't be able to get it now, because of the situation. And he's also, as I mentioned before, had a long history with his depression and mental health illness. He struggles with that, and he's had suicide attempts. Inside. He had never been suicidal before he was incarcerated. I mean, he had been suicidal, but he never acted on it. In his life previous to this, and I feel like a lot of that is because he's not getting the proper medications that he was able to get before he was incarcerated.

Daren Nair  24:21

So, Jeana, just take a step back for the benefit of our listeners, can you talk a bit about your brother's background? So, I understand he is a computer programmer. Can you tell us a bit more about him?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  24:33

Yeah, he's a software engineer and a programmer. He's written software for American companies, for their inter-office communications with each other. He's also maintained platforms for their clients as far as he's worked in the medical industry, and also the tax industry, just providing software that's tailored to those specific businesses. Prior to that, he was an engineer. He's kind of a jack-of-all trades with his hands. He can fix anything. He can do just about anything with a computer. He's, I mean, I wouldn't say that he's anything more than a coder. But, you know, he's... he's pretty advanced. He, for someone who has... he's learned it all from books, and he's taught himself and taken a certification test, you know, to get where he was. And he was able to do pretty well for himself. He's a good Christian man. And he's spent most of his life, you know, as a married man. He raised a family with the mother of his children for 23 years, and they got divorced in 2018. And that led to him having sort of a midlife crisis, I would say, very painful divorce. And that's kind of what led him to seek a relationship, different. He didn't want to go out to the bars. He didn't want to, you know, meet prospective girlfriends that way. And he discovered the online match. I don't think it was match.com or anything like that. But he actually seemed to, you know, because of that divorce, he was looking to not marry or date American women, because he had had two prior... previous marriages that had been extremely traumatising for him. So, that is what led him to seek out, you know, a romantic relationship with... with someone online. And that is when he met, not the woman that he is with and will marry, but he had also, prior to that, when he first moved to Columbia, he had married a Colombian woman there. And that turned out to be a scam situation. So, this woman that he's now with, she's a very good person, and she's a wonderful human being, honestly. I'm very impressed with her. Had he met her, you know, somewhere here in America, I think they'd be having a wonderful time with each other, they're very well suited. But, you know, because he was already in Colombia for this other, you know, to, he had actually married this first Colombian woman that he had met, and he was there to try and settle that divorce with her. And I think he was planning to come back to the States. But his fiancee now actually was his friend at the time. And through that process, she was helping him meet the requirements in Colombia for a divorce. And so she was helping him through that process. And they fell in love with each other. And here we are. Four years later, and they're both in prison. And it's the sad, sad situation. But one of the things that I do want to do is make sure that, you know, awareness happens for people in America to realise just how easily you can get drawn into a dangerous situation where this can happen. A lot of the people that go on these websites, they're just completely unsuspecting. They don't... They understand, they've heard the terror stories and the dangerous stories about people, but they never think it's going to happen to them. They just never, never imagine that it's going to happen to them. But apparently, it's happening to lots of people, lots of Americans, from what I've had to research and learn on my own. This has been a problem for as long as there's been sanctions from the United States. And I've read in the trial papers for my brother, it actually does say in there that he was detained mainly because he was an American, and they were upset about the sanctions. There was really no evidence at the time to prove that he had done anything criminal And there is no mention of the fact that... that he was abducted, but he was abducted, and he was held for three days. And the family there was... well, attempts to make, you know, to extort... extort them were made. And we just didn't have sufficient funds to do anything to get him out of this situation. So, he was turned over to the Venezuelan immigration authority at gunpoint. He was literally being forced with... these men were following him, and they told him to cross that port. So, he was delivered to Venezuela by a gang in Colombia. And I just don't think people understand just how easy this can happen, even in other countries that we don't hear are unsafe to be in, you know, that we aren't told to stay away from. So, I think it's important to make sure that people understand that risk for themselves.

Daren Nair  31:08

Absolutely. You mentioned Jerrel's trial. So, the court process, the trials in Venezuela are, to be frank...

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  31:19

A sham.

Daren Nair  31:19

Notoriously unfair, a sham trial, basically, yes. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  31:23

Yeah. 

Daren Nair  31:24

So, has Jerrel had access to a lawyer? Has he been able to mount a good defence?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  31:34

He has tried. We have attempted with... We did hire a lawyer at the beginning of this. And we worked with this lawyer for a few months. But by June, we weren't getting anywhere with his case. And he told us... At the last, he said that he could solve our problem for us. But he would need $20,000. And obviously, I don't have that kind of money. And I said no. So, we ended our relationship with him. And thus far, Jerrel has been to court a few times. The first time he was at court, they... they did not provide him an interpreter. So, we really don't know what happened during that first appearance. But the second appearance, they finally are now allowing his fiancee to actually stand with him in court. And I don't think that they're necessarily being tried together in that way. But they are allowing her to be an interpreter and speak on his behalf. And that's made a big difference for him, because he's now been able to explain his case better to the magistrate there. And he's seen two judges. And we kind of think that they're playing good cop and bad cop, if that makes sense. One has actually said to him that he understood that his case was entirely political, and that there was not a criminal element. But the other essentially tried to get him to plead for entering Venezuela illegally. And they said that if he would plead, they would drop the counter-intelligence charges. If he would plead that he had entered Venezuela illegally. And he would not do that, because he had all his paperwork, and he could prove that. So, he refused to do that. So thus far, they've kept his counterterrorism charges and US spy charges. He's not affiliated with the government in any way, nor has he ever been. We just can't prove that to them. He's not able to prove that to them in the case so far. I will say with speaking of a lawyer, he does have a lawyer that he is able to speak to, I think it's actually someone that's helping him. One of the other Americans that's in there with him, is a lawyer himself. And so the lawyer that's been helping him I believe, is advising Jerrel. Eyvin Hernandez was pro public defender himself. So, I think... I don't think we'll have to convince him that we needed help, you know, and he's got the entire Los Angeles Public Defenders Association, 33,000 strong. So I mean, we are getting legal advice, but he's not on retainer with anyone. No one is. No one has been designated as far as his trial goes as being his representation.

Daren Nair  35:10

So yes, you mentioned Eyvin Hernandez. So, he's the American citizen from Los Angeles. He works in the LA County Public Defender's Office. So, a couple episodes ago, I interviewed Eyvin's brother, Henry Martinez. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  35:24

Yes. 

Daren Nair  35:25

You can listen to the episode on podhostagediplomacy.com, or wherever you get your podcast. So yes, he has also been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department. And at least it's good to know that, I mean, it's bad that they're both there, but at least they have each other. Jeana, what should the Venezuelan Government do?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  35:45

I want them to work harder to try to, you know, just settle their disputes with us, with the sanctions. I want them to work that out with our government in a way that, you know, that ends hostage diplomacy. I mean, they're taking people that have absolutely nothing to do with the... with their disputes. And, you know, these people are being lured there. It's... it's terrifying that, you know, good-natured people are going there, and they have no idea what they're being pulled into. And then when they get there, they're not being treated well. I mean, they're... they're being treated as if they were guilty. And I feel like they... they know in advance that these people aren't guilty, or they wouldn't have to write things like, well, "we also are upset about the sanctions" in his trial papers, if that wasn't what it was mostly about. And I mean, there's certainly no evidence in his arrest papers or the... the trial. It's just... I just want them to understand that this isn't the way to do it. And obviously... obviously, I want them to let them out, to release them. I see that we're... we're starting some, not necessarily sanctions relief, but I know that Chevron has been able to start drilling there, and I know that that's beneficial. So, I'd like to see some... some acts from Venezuela, you know, to show their good will, their good faith, you know, in this process. I feel at the very least, they could stop the sub-director from what he's been overseeing and ordering there. I'm probably one of the only people that's vocal about that particular sub-director. But he has a long history. And he's hurt several of the Americans. Some of them have now been released, and they're here and can provide that testimony to the important people they need to. But I feel like Maduro should make an effort. I mean, these... these Americans, the... It seems to me the greatest power that Venezuela has at this point, or the regime has at this point, is how bad they can treat our Americans. And when they want to do these negotiations and feel like they have to make extra effort to treat these people at least humanely, at the very, very minimum, meet the international criminal standards for prisoners, at the very minimum.

Daren Nair  38:52

So, you mentioned the sub-director of the DGCIM. So, that's the D.G.C.I.M.. It's basically... it stands for the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  39:04

Yes. 

Daren Nair  39:05

It's a military prison. It's basically a basement. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  39:09

Yeah.

Daren Nair  39:09

There's not... there's no...

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  39:11

They call it the House of Dreams.

Daren Nair  39:14

Yeah. So basically, you're asking the Venezuelan government to stop the sub-director of the DGCIM from abusing Jerrel.

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  39:24

And torturing and hurting the other Americans as well. I feel like all of them should be protected from this. I mean, these... these... these negotiations are so delicate. I don't understand why we wouldn't... he wouldn't make an effort to protect them through this process, so that it's not made any more difficult than it already is.

Daren Nair  39:50

Exactly. So, if in hostage diplomacy cases, if something very bad happens to the hostage, then Venezuela is not going to be able to get what they want from the US government. It's only going to make things worse. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  40:02

Exactly. 

Daren Nair  40:04

So, it's in their benefit to keep the American prisoners or in this case... in this case, hostages, as healthy as possible as well. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  40:12

Exactly. 

Daren Nair  40:13

So, what should the US government do, Jeana, to help bring your brother home?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  40:17

I feel like they're doing so much already, and I am so happy with them. I want them just to keep up the good work and keep doing what they're doing. I can feel the progress. It's been very, very helpful to me for the State Department, the SPEHA to contact me and they were... They made me feel like we have a chance to get him out. And I just want them to keep doing what they're doing. They're... they're great at what they do. Far be it from me to tell them what to do. They're wonderful at what they do. And Roger Carstens and all the people there have been amazing. So, I have no complaints. I just want... I want President Biden to keep it... keep all this in mind of what's been happening to my brother and the other prisoners there and how they've been treated. I think that that's important to consider, or in any negotiations that he might be having with that government, I want them to understand that there are innocent lives that, you know, at least these American prisoners. It's my sense that they just don't have much longer, They don't have, you know, they don't have the hope left. And it's very hard to convince them in the DGCIM with the circumstances. It's just very hard to convince them that it's worth waiting and to, you know, keep taking care of themselves and to eat. They need to see more. You know, President Biden could make a world of difference for the American hostages that are in there right now, if he would just say their names, and let them know that he knows them, or at least he knows about them. You know, when he won't say their names, and when he won't mention them. But we're talking about the positive negotiations that are, you know, brought up, you know, brought about Chevron drilling again. I mean, that's wonderful. I'm so happy for that. That's progress. But it just seems like the American hostages are getting lost in that coverage. So, that's why I'm here to talk to you today. And, you know, and I plan on talking to plenty of other people to try and get my brother's story out and create more awareness. When I say that I was alone for the last eight months, I have to say that the families, at least most of the families, have all reached out to me, and they've all been there to kind of support me through it. And I just... I want our government to understand that, you know, we've been holding on and hanging on for a long time now. But it's time to... it's time to resolve this, because our people just can't wait any longer, and the treatment that they're getting, and the human rights violations that they're suffering are just... It's just made it impossible to just keep convincing them to just keep going. So, they're running out of time. And for some of them, they're running out of medication that I can't refill. So, I know that we're going to have some issues coming up with my brother as he runs out of his medication, that I don't know what we'll do about it. I certainly as just a private citizen, can't do more than what I have. And I need... I need their help. At this point, it's timed out. I can't do it alone anymore.

Daren Nair  44:19

So, I've interviewed the families of five members of the Citgo 6. These were the six American oil executives, who worked for Citgo Petroleum, who were wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela in November 2017. One of them was released earlier this year. The remaining five were were released in a prisoner swap on 1st October that freed seven Americans. I believe it was Carlos Anez, the stepson of Jorge Toledo. When I interviewed him, we discussed the reasons why the President of the United States doesn't say the name of the... doesn't publicly state the names of these members of the Citgo 6. It's because if the President does that, he's elevating them and raising the price of the hostage. And that means Venezuela will then ask for more concessions. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  45:17

Oh, I see.

Daren Nair  45:18

Obviously, there's the... as what you just said is it means a lot to them, to the hostages themselves, the wrongful detainees themselves, to know that the President is aware of their case and is actively working to bring them home. So, I think there's a positive and a negative of the President of the United States publicly saying your name. And I think they're just weighing the pros and cons. As I said, on 1st October, seven Americans, who were classified as wrongfully detained, were freed in a prisoner swap. Your brother, Jerrel Kenemore, was not among the seven Americans released. Eyvin Hernandez was not released. At that time, neither of them were classified as wrongfully detained. So, both your brother and Eyvin were detained in March this year. I believe Eyvin Hernandez was classified as wrongfully detained in October. Your brother was classified as wrongfully detained earlier this month, which is about seven to eight months after they were taken. Do you think if that classification happened a lot faster, your brother would have come home in that prisoner swap?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  46:31

Yes, I know that he would have, because they took the people that were classified wrongly detained at that time. And I do believe that. I believe that he would be home now if we had been able to get him designated faster. I also believe that he would have been treated better in the long run. I don't know that the rivalry that's built up between him and the sub-director, I don't know that it would be this bad, had he been declared earlier, because that has been one of the things that the sub-director has used is to tell him that he didn't matter to the United States. "They left you behind. They left you. They don't care about you." That's what he heard for almost a month. And after, especially after Eyvin was declared, he was still hearing that. "See, they don't care about you. They care about Eyvin, but they don't care about you." And that was the hardest thing is to convince him that they did. You know, he honestly at some of those calls, I don't know that he believed me that I was actually even talking to the State Department. He thought I was giving him lip service. And that's why I say I understand about not elevating the price of a hostage. But I mean, when the people inside the DGCIM can tell those hostages, "you don't matter. Because if you did matter, they would have designated you. And then you don't matter, because if you did matter, they would have taken you home October 1." And you can't imagine how hard it's been to convince him to keep going. And I'm not doing the greatest job because he's... he's on another hunger strike. And I truly don't know that he won't make another suicide attempt before we can get him out. 

Daren Nair  48:37

Well, hopefully, Ambassador Roger Carstens, who is the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the acronym is SPEHA, hopefully, him and his team will be able to, I mean, obviously with the... with sign off from President Biden, and Secretary Anthony Blinken, will be able to bring your brother and the other wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela, back home as soon as possible. Now, the news outlets play a huge role in keeping... in raising awareness of wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela and Americans held hostage in countries around the world. What can journalists and news outlets do to help?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  49:21

Reach out to me. Find me on Twitter. Twitter seems to be the place that I have the largest following, so it seems to be the place that I do the most, my... my most regular daily updates to it. And so, if they could follow them, follow us families out there and get in touch with us and, you know, give us an opportunity to at least give them the details we have at the time. You know, I feel like that that would be helpful, and if they decided that time that we're not ready for a national story, that's fine. But you know, don't let us go, because our people didn't get out. Just keep... keep contacting us and, you know, give us a chance to get our... our loved ones' stories out there We need as much help with awareness as possible, because in Venezuela, at least. I mean, I can't tell you what it's like to have a prisoner in Iran, or China or Russia or any of these other places. But I do know a lot about what it's like to have a loved one in Venezuela's prison, and the press matters to them. It matters to them. They are terrified at two things. They're terrified of exposure. And they're terrified of consequences, and mainly through the ICC, which I would be, too. I mean, I don't like the... I don't like what's coming. But you know, that's what it has to be. In America, you do the crime, you do the time. So, I mean, for me, I feel like it's actually better to speak to the press. I was told not to, that it was better to keep our story, you know, under wraps for until we could get him out. And I feel like that... that's actually slowed him down, getting out. I feel like it's definitely affected how he was treated inside, because there's only been one article about my brother before now. And I had followed, in my... my estimation, I was trying to do what I was told to be the most helpful to getting him released. So, I wish I had actually spoken to the press much earlier. And I'm going to be doing that now with you today. And thank you again for that. But also with several... several different reporters in the next week and a half, two weeks. So, we will all be hearing about Jerrel if I can help it. I'm going to try my best now.

Daren Nair  52:23

Jeana, what can the American public do to help free your brother?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  52:28

Care. Care, because it could be you. It could be your loved one. I've had a very hard time getting any... There have been people, certainly, that... that have come to me and been supportive. But as far as being able to get this as a story that people are talking about, they're just not. And I know with everything going on in the world, you can't blame them. You know, there's just a lot of stories to worry about right now. But, you know, political prisoners matter. And they shouldn't have to be famous basketball stars, you know, to get the kind of exposure that they need. I mean, they all need it. They all need the awareness among the American public. And they all need that support. It's... It's the... it's the one thing that I think they need the most is to feel like Americans care. 

Daren Nair  53:34

I absolutely agree with you. We're almost at the end of our interview. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  53:42

You know, I feel like I've covered it all. I... again, I am so grateful to you. You are the first person that I'm talking to, and, Daren, you have been amazing. You have been so kind to me. And again, I just can't thank you enough for having me today.

Daren Nair  54:00

You're very welcome, Jeana. It's an honour to help. We're so sorry for what you and your family are going through, and we will be campaigning right by your side until your brother, Jerrel, comes home.

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  54:10

I know. I feel you. Thank you so much. 

Daren Nair  54:13

You're very welcome. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us today. 

Jeana Kenemore Tillery  54:16

Thank you. Thank you.

Daren Nair  54:23

Thank you for listening to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. Thank you for giving your time and for showing these families that they're not alone, that there are good, caring people out there, willing to stand by their side and help in any way possible.

Richard Ratcliffe  54:38

Because if enough people care, then the right people will care enough. This is a basic rule of thumb that is true for all campaigning.

Daren Nair  54:46

If you haven't already, please subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter called The Hostage Briefing. It's the best way to keep up to date with the cases we're working on as well as new episodes. You can subscribe to this newsletter using the link in the description of this podcast episode that you're currently listening to. Thanks again and take care.