A voicemail from Citgo 6 captive Alirio Zambrano from inside Venezuela has family members again calling on the U.S. State Department – and CITGO – to step up efforts to secure the mens’ release.
As 6 Investigates has reported, the Citgo 6 are six Citgo executives – five who are American citizens – arrested in late 2017 after a one-day investigation and accused of treason, embezzlement and corruption by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
They’ve been held in a basement prison inside Caracas for more than 450 days, waiting for the Venezuelan government to present its case.
Zambrano, in particular, has ties to Corpus Christi – he was VP and Operations Manager of the refinery complex, here, at the time of his imprisonment.
CITGO, which suspended the men’s salaries last May, has not only not responded to our many questions about the men’s innocence and the company’s efforts to bring the men home, they’ve ignored them.
But now, new information. This voicemail from Zambrano, sent to 6 Investigates by one of this daughters, Alexandra Forseth, suggests the men are worried for their safety amid Venezuela’s deteriorating situation.
“I am just calling to let you know that we are fine, also let you know that, um, (inaudible) but more important, we heard a rumor that if things go south over here that they want to do a clean-up operation in the basement of the hotel so you need to let the right people know that the rumor is there is going to be a clean-up operation if things go south in the basement. Ciao.”
We will continue updating this situation as new information becomes available.
