SITREP Pod: Free Tomeu Vadell, American held in Venezuela | Pod Hostage Diplomacy

SITREP Pod: Free Tomeu Vadell, American held in Venezuela | Pod Hostage Diplomacy  

SPEAKERS

Daren Nair, Veronica Vadell Weggeman

Daren Nair: 

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 every week and let you know how you can help bring them home. I'm Daren Nair, and I've had the honour of campaigning with many of these families for years. These are some of the most courageous and resilient people among us. People who have never given up hope, people who will never stop working to reunite their families. And we will be right there by their side until their loved ones are back home. Thank you for joining us. And now, let's meet this week's guest. 
 
 Welcome to Pod Hostage Diplomacy. I'm Daren Nair. This past November marked four years since Tomeu Vadell, an American from Louisiana, a husband, a father, and a grandfather has been wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela. He worked for US oil company, Citgo, and was arrested in Caracas in November 2017, together with five of his American colleagues. Collectively, they are known as the Citgo 6. The US government has stated that they are unlawfully detained. Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has called on the Venezuelan authorities to release the Citgo 6 unconditionally and return them to the United States.
 
 The US State Department released a statement on 21st, November 2021 stating the following, "Today marks four years since US nationals Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cárdenas, José Pereira, Tomeu Vadell, José Luis Zambrano, and Alirio Zambrano travelled to Venezuela for a Citgo Petroleum business meeting and were not allowed to come home. After being invited to Venezuela, masked security agents detained all six men and imprisoned [(2:00)] them on specious charges without due process or access to a fair trial. As a 5th Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we continue to seek their unconditional return and the release of all US nationals wrongfully detained overseas. Secretary Blinken will continue to relentlessly pursue the release of these individuals. To the Venezuelan authorities who have imprisoned them, we ask that they be allowed to return to the United States to reunite with their families." That was a statement from Ned Price, spokesperson for the US State Department.
 
 Tomeu's defense attorney, Jesus Laredo, has said his client appeared to have been caught up in a geopolitical conflict of which he was not a part. The Vadell family has said that Tomeu is a hostage being used as a pawn to extract concessions from the United States. This would be hostage diplomacy. Now, if you've listened to this podcast before, you'd be familiar with the Citgo 6.
 
 In September, we interviewed Veronica Vadell Wagaman, Tomeu Vadell's daughter, and we interviewed Veronica again in October on a Breaking News Pod episode the day after her father and the rest of the Citgo 6 were taken back to prison from house arrest. Last month, we also interviewed Alexandra Zambrano Forseth, daughter of Alirio Jose Zambrano and niece of Jose Luis Zambrano, both colleagues of Tomeu Vadell and members of the Citgo 6. If you haven't already, please do listen to these episodes by looking up Pod Hostage Diplomacy on your podcast app or by visiting our website podhostagediplomacy.com.
 
 We always tell the families we interview that we will be campaigning right by their side until their loved ones come home, and we mean it. So, we'll keep you up to date with their campaigns through SITREP Pods like this one or Breaking News Pods. Today, we have the honour of speaking to Veronica Vadell Weggeman again. Veronica, I'm sorry for this ongoing nightmare. All I can say really is that [(4:00)] you're not alone and we'll be right here by your side until your father and the rest of the Citgo 6 are back home. Welcome back, and thank you for joining us. 
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Thank you so much, Daren, for having me back on the podcast, and for all the listeners following along with our case, we really appreciate all the support. It has been wonderful. Today marks day 1,538 since our father's taking, and it's been a really long time.
 
 Daren Nair: 

For our listeners who aren't aware of your father and the rest of the Citgo 6, can you please give them a quick summary of what happened? 
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Sure. Yeah. So my dad on Thanksgiving week in November of 2017 was called down for an emergency meeting with his several co-workers down from the US in Citgo to Venezuela. They went down for some meetings on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, and on Tuesday during their last meeting, they were arrested. They were apprehended and taken to military counterintelligence jail in Venezuela and he's been held in Venezuela ever since. I mean, we've had a lot of ups and downs. They had a trial in November of 2020 which finally convicted them of bogus crimes but that's pretty much where we are, in a nutshell. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

Now, there have been significant developments in the last few weeks. Can you please tell us more? 
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Sure. Yeah. So, in the past few weeks, they were convicted in November 26 of 2020, Thanksgiving Day. The Venezuelan government convicted and gave them each their sentences, supposedly, for these bogus crimes that they never committed. And that following December, December 18, 2020, the appeal was presented by the lawyers stating that they need to review this case, the sentence, etcetera, because, again, they're being charged for something that did not happen. And then in November of 2021,[(6:00)] a year after they're convicted, the courts in Venezuela decided to have the appeals court, review the appeal that our lawyer had put in. And of course, it was a closed hearing. They didn't bring the men in like they should have. They didn't allow for the press to go in. Other individuals like the United Nations or Human Rights Watch, etc. They didn't allow any of these people to come in and watch the court hearing.
 
 And then this past Friday, February 4th of 2022, so it's almost a year and some change since they were convicted. They did their appeal decision, which was that they remain with the same sentence there, and just nothing has changed, that they continue with the same stance, which is they're guilty and they all have their different sentences, and that's that. What's strange is that they gave it out during a time when all the courts in Venezuela are closed due to Covid. So, supposedly, how can they make a decision when the courts are closed? That means that they can meet and they made the decision on a Friday night. Our lawyer informed us of this decision around 7 p.m. this past Friday.
 
 Daren Nair: 

I'm very sorry to hear that. I was outraged when I heard about it and I'm sure you and the rest of the families are too. Now, they also contracted COVID-19 as well, right? In prison? Can you just tell us more about that?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Yeah, of course. So, I mean, we've had a few hiccups since we last spoke and Alexandra touched a few of them on the last episode. Last year, in the fall, Mr. José Pereira had a heart attack. He suffered a heart attack in the SEBIN and that was a huge scare for all the families. And then, shortly after a few months later, [(8:00)] all men contracted COVID which was our worst nightmare. They have, thank goodness, been vaccinated. However, they still aren't in the best living conditions and don't have access to health care the way that we do. So, for them to get COVID is still really scary. All of them got it, and thankfully, they were okay. I mean, my dad doesn't like to worry us, so he didn't really tell us he had it until he tested negative afterward. He was like, "Hey, you know, I did test positive, so did the other men but everyone's okay." And so, that's that. After that, Ambassador Roger Carstens went down also to Venezuela at the beginning of December of last year to see them and do kind of like a health-visit and make sure that they were doing okay. So, that's pretty much all the updates that we've had since we last spoke. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

So, what should the US government be doing, specifically President Biden, the State Department, and Congress?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Sure. So, I mean Congress needs to push and put pressure on our government and for the executive branch to do something right. They need to make this a priority. This is six American citizens. It is just our case alone. There are nine Americans in total that are being held in Venezuela currently as hostages. They're being used as political pawns. The six of us in our group, we've been in this situation, like I said earlier, for 1,538 days. That's four years and like two months. And enough is enough. These are six families. These are men and families that pay taxes, and our Senators need to help and put pressure for the executive branch to do something. Secretary of State Blinken, we met a few weeks ago. He spoke with all of the families that have family members that are detained [(10:00)] in Venezuela, and he continues to share that there is support and that they're interested in our case. And that they're working on it and that they're trying the best that they can. However, you know, we spoke with him last year when he was first appointed at the end of January and now it's, you know, we met at the end of this January. So it's been a year since his last promise of helping us bring our family members home and we're not seeing anything go on. I think, at the end of the day, when we speak to the state department, when we speak to Congress, it seems that the holdup at the end of the day, is President Biden. He's the one that needs to make the final decision. We've spoken to the Department of Justice as well and all ends indicate that that's what needs to happen at the end of the day. President Biden needs to be aware of this and he needs to make the decision that he needs to do whatever it takes to get these men home. I don't know what that is. We don't know what they want, what the solution is but he needs to just get the job done. He needs to bring these men home. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

President Biden has not mentioned the Citgo 6 publicly. Is that still the case?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Correct. That's still the case. We have brought that up before with the state department. We brought that up to Secretary Blinken. We don't understand why he hasn't brought it up. You know, maybe it's some kind of tactical situation. I don't know, like some kind of tactic that they are doing in order for them to resolve this case. But honestly, the silence just doesn't, it doesn't protect us anymore. You know, we need to know, and I need to know that our President is aware of the case. I don't want to just hear that people tell us that he's aware of it. I would like to know personally that he does know about it because if he did, I feel that he would have already resolved it. I know that we're living in some crazy times, and there's a pandemic going on, there are all sorts of things happening around the world, the Ukraine, Russia, [(12:00)] all these major issues that are happening, but this is an issue that has been going on for four years. And problems are going to arise every day, every month, every week, you name it. So he needs to get this resolved and then continue moving on to other problems. I don't know if he really is aware of the case. We've been told that he is, but I think that I would like to request for his staff to please make it known to him that this is a priority and bring this to the table for him to get a resolution.
 
 Daren Nair: 

Some of the American families, when advocating for their loved ones' release, say "We don't want to call for a specific solution, like a prisoner swap or paying a debt or something like that because we don't want to tie the US government's hands." So, from your perspective, is your approach similar or are you advocating for something specific?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Honestly, I think at this point, we're advocating for anything, you know, any solution, any option that's on the table. I just want them to look at it, whether it's a prisoner swap, whether it's sanctions release, whether it's, I don't know, having some kind of business deals. I don't know, whatever it is that these governments do. At this point, we're open to anything. We're desperate to have Dad home. You know, he's 62 years old, he's not a young person. He's had COVID. He has other underlying health conditions, not to mention, like Alexandra has said before, the PTSD that all these men have suffered, he's in a very scary place that the country is going through a humanitarian crisis right now. So it's just a recipe for disaster. I don't know how much longer the government is just gonna wait to find a solution [(14:00)] for them to come home. And it's gonna eventually, it's going to blow up in both of the government's faces if it doesn't get resolved soon. We've already had several health scares including the biggest one which was Mr. Pereira's heart attack. I mean, what more are they waiting for?
 
 At this point, I know that research has shown for example, I know that the US is most likely concerned that the fact of, "Oh, if we do a swap, or a deal, we don't negotiate with terrorists." That's usually their stance and so they don't want to negotiate these kinds of things. But research has shown the opposite that it doesn't really set a precedence, and it doesn't make the countries that they do negotiate with, for this to happen for it to increase chances of it happening. I think if anything, the Venezuelan government, I don't know. They've shown several times, opportunities for dialogue that they've requested for that to happen, kind of like olive branches to the government. They've given house arrest twice. They have vaccinated the men, you know, they occasionally allow for them to call. I mean, these are small things. We're grateful that they happen but at the same time, very upset that they have to happen because nothing is being done. So with all these olive branches that the government's given, I expect for the US government to do something in response. And they haven't. They just continue bashing the country. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

When was the last time you spoke to your father and how's he doing at the moment?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

We spoke earlier this week. I believe it was, it was either, what was it? Wednesday? Currently, the phones have been broken since October. So our father used to be able to call occasionally from Venezuela to our phones over here. And we would talk maybe once, twice a week depending on like the call situation because we rotate so he can call my mom, he can call my sister, he can call my brother, he can call me. And so, phones have been broken. [(16:00)] He hasn't been able to call and so we set up this other thing where we eventually, we're able to call him. Well, that phone is broken as well.
 
 And so now, we can't call him either and so occasionally, someone within the SEBIN where he's at will allow for him to use, I guess a personal phone, and call us via WhatsApp and we can either do audio call if the Wi-Fi is kind of spotty, if the Wi-Fi is working properly, we'll get to occasionally, do a video call, which is really nice. So he can actually see us or he can, you know, we can see him and that kind of gives both of us confirmation that we're doing okay. When you hear someone's voice, you're not 100% sure how they're doing. When you get to see them, you really can especially knowing the situation that he's in and COVID, etc. It's nice to see his face and make sure that he looks good. So we were able to talk this past week and he's doing okay. His job in there like he always says is to be strong, mind, body, and spirit. And that's what he's doing. His spirits are high. He's hopeful, he wishes that both governments will do what's right for them. This past October, when they were taken away from house arrest and punished for the extradition of Alex Saab, my dad's just kind of like, "What is the point of punishing six innocent people for this situation?" Like he is hopeful though that the US will make the right choice and we'll end up bringing him home. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

You mentioned earlier that your father doesn't want you to worry. So he doesn't tell you stuff until he's on the other side of it. Like he didn't tell you when he tested positive for COVID, he only told you when he tested negative after. From your perspective, as a family of someone held hostage or wrongfully detained, you also want to do the same thing. You don't want him to worry, you want to keep his hopes up. It's been, as you said, four years and two months. How [(18:00)] have you and your family been coping?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Well, Daren, it's really hard. It's a challenge every day. The first few years, it was really tough to even just get out of bed, get to work, and get things going. Eventually as unfortunate as it is, time does help a little bit in the sense that you got to keep going. You got to keep trucking to move on. We've had countless different episodes of things that we've also been scared to tell dad. So he doesn't get worried about us as well, because he's just, we're out here living our lives and dealing with this load, and he's just in there in a box waiting for a solution. So, I think for him, it's very stressful to know that we're out here trying to live day by day, and he thinks he feels like a burden, right? We've had several encounters of we've had some emergency room things due to health issues because of this. We've been really stressed out and had panic attacks or problems like that, you know? Stress, etc. They just doesn't help and so we, sometimes have withheld that information kind of like Dad has until we're on the other side and say, "Hey, you know, we're okay." With Omicron going rampant, and everyone getting sick. My husband was sick over the holidays and then my mom got it as well. And, you know, we kind of wait until to make sure that things are okay to let him know that these things are happening because we just don't want him to worry. I don't want him to have any other kind of, you know, health issues or another stressor to his life already.
 
 Same with me, I contracted COVID over a week ago and I was a little worried I have to tell him because that's just another stressor for him. I know that he requests for them to allow him to call. So he's able to see us, and hear us and make sure that we're doing okay because like any family, [(20:00)] someone sick or something's going on, you want to pick up the phone and you want to call them like "Hey, how are you doing? How are you feeling? Can I get you anything? What's going on?" And to just be with your hands tied up and you can't call whenever you want, you don't know what's going on, you don't know how everyone's doing, it must be really stressful and it's stressful for us to not be able to do the same to know how he's doing every day to make sure he's getting what he needs, to make sure he's not going to bed hungry, you know, cold, whatever, you name it.
 
 It's a lot to take on as a family, but at the end of the day, as hard as it's been, it has brought us all closer together as a family. It just shows the love that we have for him. And everything that we do is for him because he's been such a great father and he's such a great husband. My dad did nothing but work his behind off here in Venezuela, and here in Citgo and the US to provide, put food on our table and education and he did that as a father. He gave us all three children the best education that we could get. And that was his gift to us. And so for us as his children and my mom as his wife, this is us repaying him for being such a great dad. I mean, we miss him. We miss him terribly. My parents have been married for, will be married for 36 years this February. And they will be, I think also this February that marks their 46th year of just being together. They've been together since they were 16 years old. So, for my mom to have to miss another milestone of the marriage anniversary is just, it's wrong. It's wrong for both governments to be prolonging a situation that can just be resolved with a phone call, with a trip to Venezuela.
 
 I'm very disappointed. We were all very disappointed. [(22:00)] I mean, it's mixed feelings. When Ambassador Roger Carstens was able to go down in December to visit, we were happy that that happened but at the same time, disappointed that he came back empty-handed, right? He came back with nothing. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, we don't really have a readout but to me, he came back empty-handed because he didn't come back with not even one man. And I would have loved to have seen at least one of the Citgo 6 home. It doesn't even have to be my dad. It could be just one of them to where we can start that process of bringing them home, reuniting with family members. And in starting that process of like healing. Four years is a long time. In four years, kids graduate from high school in four years. You can graduate from college in four years, you can learn a language in four years. I mean, there are just so many, it's a long time to be separated from somebody.
 
 Daren Nair: 

I'm really sorry for what you and your family going through. I mean, I'm sure your dad is proud of what you've done for him and in general in the last four years, two months. Your resilience, your strength, your public campaigning. I know from the other families that I’ve spoken to, they speak very highly of your family for being very public and very loud and demanding from the US government. So, keep up the good work.
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

The other families are really strong as well. You know, everyone has the path that they've chosen to take and it's totally fine. Being in the public eye, it has not been easy. It causes way more stress and anxiety than normal. I've never been a public person. Yeah, sure, I have my social media, this and that but not to this level. So it is really stressful to constantly be in the public eye and be interviewed from different people or have to tweet about your life and your personal life and the things that you're going through. We're a very private family. [(24:00)] We just are very simple people and it's not fun to have to do it. But the other families, they work equally as hard and we're all stuck with this unfortunate burden of a problem that just won't get resolved. So yeah, thank you for that.
 
 Daren Nair: 

You're welcome. Now, when I asked you, what can the US government do better, not just for your father but also for families like yourself that are going through this nightmare? The support because obviously, families like yourself, you still have to pay the rent or the mortgage. You still have to get on with your day-to-day life. And like you said, you have panic attacks, and health issues and you need access to healthcare or additional health care than what you already need. And I know you have a one-year-old child. So, what kind of support do you believe based on your own experience these last four years and two months that the US government should be able to provide families, like yourself, and not just rely on NGOs like Hostage US or the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, or the Richardson Center, what do you think the US government should be doing?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Right. Well, you bring up a good point. I don't know how other countries do it for example, but I do think that it just takes a huge toll on families. And I mean, I'm seeing my tax dollars being used for you know. The government is putting in a lot of money to try and catch bad guys that have done bad things in other countries versus here to bring them home like for example, the Alex Saab situation and extradite him and they’re putting our tax dollars to work on that. But then, they can't put tax dollars to help families like ours. And fortunately, my [(26:00)] family, for example, the three children we’re all grown. We'll have work. And we're all sustainable. My dad was very close to retirement. He was going to, he was looking into retiring in 2018, so like the year after he was taken. So just a few months after he was taken, he was thinking about retiring. So, as far as that, my mom is tight but okay. My sister and I, my brother, all of us working, so it's okay. But for some families, it is really tough. It's really hard to pay a mortgage. They have kids that are much younger that are in High School. They have to go to college.
 
 And so it would be nice to see, maybe some type of program, some type of assistance relief for these families, maybe monetarily so financial help, as well as potentially health, healthcare, mental health, you know, anything like that. I don't know what kind of services they will provide. Maybe for when my dad comes home, maybe they'll have something for that as well. I don't know, but it would be nice for our government to have this because if they continue with the stance where they're just policing and sanctioning other countries and doing these things, this is a problem that's not going to go away. So you're going to have constant families in on the same boat, and they need to provide assistance to us. I think mental health would be a really good one. It's really hard to deal with such an intense loss and tragedy. You know, you have a family member that has been your family's just ripped apart, your family member has been taken away from you. We have the trauma where not only was he taken, but he was missing for like 35 days. We didn't know where he was or if he was alive or dead for 30-something days. It wasn't until December 24th that they allowed for him to call finally and let us know that he was okay. [(28:00)] And it was like a three-minute phone call at five in the morning and we were able to hear his voice. He said he's okay and that he needed a lawyer and that was it. And then the phone call ends. And it's like, "Where is he? What's going on?" Alexandra painted a pretty good picture as far as how this whole process, it's not like, you don't have a playbook. There's no link on the government's website where you can just click and be like, "What do I do when this happens?" The burden is all on the family and you have to be your advocate and you have to move and you have to make the phone calls to these companies. No one reaches out to you.
 
 You know, we had to find the Richardson Center, we had to find Hostage US. We had to find SPEHA, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. We have to find the contact numbers for our state senators, our representatives. It's just like up to us as a family. And it's really hard and it's really traumatizing and having to sit, and even just think about it, as you can tell, I get really red and I get really flushed with this because it's such an uncomfortable memories and such an uncomfortable topic that we have to deal with. It would be lovely to see our government do that and allocate funds and support for families like us. It's hard. It's still hard even though, you know, we're trying to live our day by day and be present to go to work. I mean, for the first, I think I was studying and graduating from my graduate program when this happened and it was during finals that my father was taken and I'm surprised that I even passed my finals and got to graduate. And then, not only that but then, you know, you have to go into the workforce and it was hard for myself and my sister, my brother to work full time. And then have to deal with this because this is a full-time job. Lobbying for your dad, you know, for your loved [(30:00)] one is a lot of work. It's a lot of emails. It's a lot of phone calls and it's just emotionally draining. After you're done with this, you don't really want to do anything else, you're just pooped. So, you know, I couldn't work full-time. Once I started working after I graduated just because of the mental toll and the actual workload because it had just happened. And it took a long time for us to get to the point of where we are where we can finally have some type of movement going. So yeah, I know I'm not the only one. I know the other families have struggled the same and have had other financial problems and other issues that I can't even imagine. And it would be good for us to have some type of system set up to help families like ours or you know, all the 50-plus people that are currently detained all over the world. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

I absolutely agree with you. Right now, families like yourself are relying on the generosity of volunteers and the NGOs. I mean, Hostage US, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Richardson Center, they do great work. I know at least Hostage US and James Foley Foundation, they rely on donations from the public. And they have what? Just two to three permanent employees, and that's it. And yet they do remarkable work but given that state-sponsored hostage-taking is on the rise and there are more and more families that need assistance, it's not sustainable. So the government needs to do more. You've got a lot of good coverage from the American media, thankfully. So what can the news outlets and journalists do to help?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

They're doing what they're doing. Like you, just helping us give us a voice, and helping publish the truth which is these are six individuals that are being held [(32:00)] unjustly against their will in Venezuela and nothing's happening in holding those accountable for it, right? This is equally the Venezuelan's problem as it is the American's. They need to sit down and stop using humans as toys as these policies pieces to, you know, to get what they want. To get these concessions. It's absolutely ridiculous. You know, to use a person, to me, that's the most sickening thing about this whole situation is that my dad is just being used as a pawn to get something that you want like like a thing, an object. What that it to me is just absolutely disgusting. Hearing for example in the news on Friday that the courts are like, "No, they're guilty. They're going to have to rot here." You know, my dad, he has a sentence of eight years and 10 months. Supposedly, they're going to honour the four years that he's been detained. So, he has four years and 10 months left to go. That's still a long time.
 
 Like you said earlier, I have a one-year-old here at home and so he'll be five, six when my dad gets out. And that's if the Venezuelan government decides to release him because there are a lot of cases where the people's time is up. They completed their jail sentence but they still don't get released when they're supposed to. If you look at the timeline from when they were convicted to when the appeal was presented to when the court appeal court hearing happened, and the appeal decision happened, it's like a year and a half, two years almost of like a timeline. When in reality, it should be back-to-back, just very quickly. So I think what AP does, what other news outlets, what Wall Street Journal, we had [(34:00)] New York Times, we've had coverage from the Miami Herald, from you, from all these different sources, it's great because it just continues bringing to light, and showing the pressure and putting pressure in showing that this is a problem and I feel that the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease. And this problem needs to get resolved. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

Now, what can the American public do to help? 
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Well, the American public keep putting pressure on the representatives, the senators, calling them, emailing them. As well as if they have contacts in other offices, they can help as well putting pressure with them. I think it's great. It's wonderful that we have these organizations like Hostage US, and the James Foley Foundation because they do provide a lot of support for the families. They've given us a lot of guidance on what to do once we found them. Which was, you know, I think two plus years later, we found some of these NGOs and it's like, "Oh, thank God, you know, Richardson Center." And so, I think if the American public can, they should donate, if they can to any of these NGOs. Donate to your podcast. Donate to anyone and anything that wants that is providing this kind of support. Because it helps families like us keep going. And keep on keeping on the good fight. If they have any contacts within the Executive Branch, the DOJ, the State Department, you know, give them a call. Ask them to help out. If they have any contacts in Venezuela, please ask for this to get resolved. I think that both countries want this to get resolved but it's just a matter of sitting down and figuring it out. 
 
 Daren Nair: 

Speaking to your Representatives is one of the most effective things you can do, and not just once, keep reminding them, keep showing them that this is something that's [(36:00)] important. Keep being persistent, keep letting them know that you're not going to forget about the Citgo 6. Now, let's say, I listen to this podcast. I want to help, and I get some time with my Senator or my representative, or even the governor of my state. And I obviously, you get what? Few seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds if you're lucky. What are the key talking points you would want someone like me to say to my representative? The key points.
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

The key points. I mean, the key point is that there's an innocent man, six innocent men being held in Venezuela against their will for over four years. And how are we going to bring our constituents home? How are we going to bring our fellow American back home? I need and then just ask them to bring it up to the highest level that they can. Whether if it's a governor that he can maybe help bring it up to Congress. I don't know exactly how the dynamics would work. But I do know, for example, that President Biden has been here to New Orleans where I reside. And he has met with the Mayor of New Orleans. So I've tried with her office for example to ask, "Hey, if that happens again, or if you meet with him, please bring this up." So an individual can ask, "Hey, if you have a few seconds with the President, bring it up." Congress members sometimes travel with the President or have conversations, bring it up. This is a problem. This is something that has not stopped and it obviously won't stop. Americans are being taken with much more frequency in other countries, and that's very scary. To hold an American passport in the beginning, you feel that, "Oh, American passport, you can go anywhere and you're respected in this, and that." But to other countries, it's kind of like a golden ticket to get concessions and things, and you become a target [(38:00)] and that's very scary. And so the American public should, there should be an issue that people need to be aware of and need to be worried about because Americans like to travel. Americans like to go abroad and this could happen to anybody. It could happen to any family member that you have. So it's a very important topic that needs to be brought up.
 
 Daren Nair: 

I absolutely agree. Veronica, we're almost at the end of our interview. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Yeah, so I think, talking to you about giving you the timeline of the court appeal, obviously, I am really happy that we can sit down and discuss that because we're very concerned with the fact that the court has decided on this decision. To give them, convict them again of the same crime and not really giving a reason why. They deliberately did it on a Friday night. So we have to maybe wait for the week to find out something. If the courts are even open due to COVID. And at the end of the day, you know, it's all deliberate, we, as well as the family members are used as pawns, right? These kinds of things happen and they expect for us to have a reaction which is this one. And have to have to go to the media and, you know, again, cry out for the government to do something. So, this to me, is, it feels like it's a sign potentially, again, from the Venezuelan government, like, "Hey, what are we doing?" Like, "What's going on? You all need to make a decision or something needs to happen." To me, it seems like it's a cry of help, a cry of attention again from the Venezuelan government to the US government of like, "Hey, you know, pay attention to this." And using us as family members to get a reaction. To bring attention to it again.
 
 So, it's all, again, in the government's face. I feel that last fall, we had good traction [(40:00)] with the UN fact-finding mission when they went down to Venezuela. They wrote a report and they talked about all the different human rights violations that are happening. And that again, highlights this case for at least in my father's case, they mention him twice in the report and they use his cases example, just to how many human rights have been violated, and how this is wrong. And the fact that Venezuela is doing this to people is just, it's not right. And then right currently right now, I know that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is also reviewing our father's case. I know the Venezuelan government knows this. I don't know how they think they can get away with this because this is an entity that respects human rights. And so, I'm interested in seeing how this resolves, and how this will unfold within the future. Because if they're reviewing his case, they're going to have to add this appeal decision to the reviewing of it. And at the end of the day, like my father said, what side of history do you want to be part of? The right part of history or the bad side? How do you want to go down? How did these judges sleep at night by making these types of decisions? How do these people sleep at night by making these decisions when in the end, justice will prevail, and at some point, they will be, whether it's the UN, whether it's the International Court, you know, Criminal Court, they will make the decision that these people have not done what's right. So, I'm interested to see how things unfold within this future, this year. Because too much has happened. And I know that these entities are reviewing our case and hopefully, justice will be on our side. I feel truly deep down in my heart that 2022 will be the year that dad comes home. So we are hoping [(42:00)] to make this happen. We're visualizing it. We can visualize that reunion, I can feel the hug. So it's just a matter of getting it done.
 
 Daren Nair: 

I hope so too. I hope this is the year your family is reunited. Veronica, as I've said many times before, we'll be campaigning right by your side until your father and the rest of the Citgo 6 come back home. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us again.
 
 Veronica Vadell Weggeman: 

Thank you so much, Daren. And thank you to all the listeners again for following us. And yeah, keep giving us all your support. Follow Pod Hostage Diplomacy on Twitter and follow me if you need to @VVadell to get any updates. We really appreciate all the support.
 
 Daren Nair: 

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Pod Hostage Diplomacy. We're not just a podcast, we're a community. If you are on Twitter and would like to post a message of solidarity to the families or have any questions for us, please tweet it using the hashtag #PodHostageDiplomacy and we'll get back to you. If you like what we're trying to do, please do consider supporting the show financially. You can do this using the support the show link in the description of this podcast episode. We're grateful for any contributions no matter how small. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back next week. Take care.
 
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