Three Americans were quietly jailed in Venezuela earlier this year for allegedly trying to enter the country illegally and now face long prison sentences in the politically turbulent nation.
Two of the men (lawyer Eyvin Hernandez, 44, from California and computer programmer Jerrel Kenemore, 52, from Texas) were arrested in late March, just days after President Nicolás Maduro's socialist government freed two other Americans following a meeting with U.S. officials in Caracas. Hernandez is from Los Angeles; Kenemore is from the Dallas area, but had lived in Colombia since 2019.
At least eight more Americans, including five oil executives and three veterans, remain imprisoned in Venezuela.
A third American was arrested in January, also for allegedly entering the country illegally along its lengthy border with Colombia. His name is being withheld at the request of his family, which fears retaliation.
