Faces of Americans being Hostages

Chapter 3: Hostage Diplomacy: The Alarming Rise in Cases

Introduction:

In this chapter of our weekly newsletter, we delve into the concerning issue of hostage diplomacy and shed light on its developing impact in the United States. According to the annual report prepared by the James Foley Legacy Foundation in 2022, there has been a dramatic increase in hostage cases in recent years. Examining the 1979 incident in Iran will help us better understand the gravity of the situation.

The Growth of Hostage Diplomacy:

Kidnappers held 52 Americans for 444 days in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, which forever changed hostage diplomacy. This event not only underscored the vulnerability of individuals caught in diplomatic crossfires but also demonstrated the potential leverage that hostage-taking can exert on international relations.

Since then, the practice of hostage diplomacy has continued to evolve, with an alarming increase in cases witnessed in recent times. The James Foley Legacy Foundation's report highlights this disconcerting trend, emphasizing the urgent need for attention and action to address this humanitarian crisis

WE SEE ALARMING TRENDS IN THIS YEAR’S REPORT

The findings in the fourth annual Bringing Americans Home Report concern. More and more countries are unjustly detaining Americans overseas. The trend lines for both new incidents of Americans detained and held hostage overseas and the overall number of cases globally have significantly increased over the past decade.

Wrongful Detentions in U.S. On The Rise, More Countries Involved.

The findings in this report make clear that, despite all that has already been done, the challenge of bringing Americans unjustly detained or held hostage overseas is only getting more complex, more widespread, and more frequent. Nearly half of the U.S. nationals still held hostage have been held for more than five years. Nearly one-third of the wrongful detention cases involve U.S. nationals who are still being detained. Over the last decade, the number of U.S. nationals wrongfully detained increased by 175%. The report recommends a comprehensive review of the government’s hostage enterprise structure to determine its effectiveness, providing more authority and funding to the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, elevating the cell’s director, and appropriating funds to help families and returning hostages or wrongfully detained Americans.

Introducing the Faces of Detainees:

To better understand the human impact of hostage diplomacy, it is important to give voice and faces to those directly affected. Through the Bring Our Family Home campaign, we have gained insights into the stories of numerous individuals who have been wrongfully detained. In this chapter, we will introduce two faces of hostages in Venezuela, a country that has witnessed a significant number of such cases.

Though we will discuss the broader issue of hostage diplomacy in Venezuela in the following week, we have chosen to begin with these two individuals as they were our neighbors for over a year at the El SEBIN detention center in Venezuela.

During this time, we had the opportunity to establish personal connections with their fathers, brothers, and sons, meeting them in person and gaining a deeper understanding of their struggles.

Luke Denman - Venezuela

@AmericanRescueCoalition

Luke Alexander Denman, former Special Forces Communications Sergeant, is a commercial deep-water diver who loves traveling across the United States with his girlfriend and their two rescue dogs. He signed up with the United States Army in 2006, following in the footsteps of his older brother, father, and grandfather, whose stories inspired him and instilled in him the desire to serve his country.

Luke Denman is a Texan who served as a US Army Special Forces Green Beret. Luke was captured by the Maduro government of Venezuela on or around May 4th, 2020, under heavily propagandized circumstances that include him being forced under threat of starvation and torture to confess to being part of “members of Donald Trump’s security force” and used as political propaganda. He was given a 20-year sentence without ever receiving legal counsel or understanding his charges. He is currently held as a political prisoner as Maduro attempts to use him in negotiations with the US Government.?

There are reports of extreme weight loss, denied treatment for back injuries, and a lack of clean drinking water. His family struggles to provide and deliver food and necessities, including health care. Bringing Luke home to his family will require negotiations with Maduro’s government.

Since my arrival on October 1st, 2022, to the US through a prisoner SWAP, one month later I meet here in Houston with Luke’s mom and Father.

That day occurred something magical because been talking with Luke’s Dad’s, they receive suddenly the call after more than 2months without communication I was there and had the immense pleasure to talk to him giving him a message of hope and Strength

My Son also during my detention and taking care of my logistic always was in contact, and I finally meet him one month ago in Washington DC during “Hostage Week “with Luke’s brother to help and support him in how to navigate the complex bureaucracy in Venezuela to provide food and medicines to Luke.

Beyond all these “official “bios of Luke, he is a very gentile and kind human being, who loves his dogs and his fiancé and is a Geek and nerdy tech guy, a Sci-fi reader, with a great sense of humor.

Airan Berry - Venezuela

@AmericanRescueCoalition

Airan Berry, a 45-year-old Texan, and former US Army Special Forces Engineer Sergeant is a skilled craftsman and family man who has two children with his wife of 22 years. He has always been an involved parent who encourages his children to pursue their passions. Airan enjoys being outdoors with his family and shares a love of drawing with his children.?

Airan was captured by the Maduro government of Venezuela on or around May 4th, 2020, under heavily propagandized circumstances that included him being forced under threat of starvation and torture to confess to being part of “members of Donald Trump’s security force” and used as political propaganda. He was given a 20-year sentence without ever receiving legal counsel or understanding his charges. He is currently held as a political prisoner as Maduro attempts to use him in negotiations with the US Government.??

There are reports of extreme weight loss, eating food that makes him sick, and a lack of clean drinking water. His family struggles to provide and deliver food and necessities, including health care. Bringing Airan home to his wife and children will require negotiations with Maduro’s government. His condition during the time there was very extreme, due to Airan being Vegan and shaving a real issue, getting his Foods and supplementals

During the Hostage week, we had the opportunity to know his wife Melanie, and his two kids, who flew to assist the “Hostage Week’ in Washington DC from Germany.

It was totally heartbreaking to see his daughter trying to do a speech to plead for his father, and the tears didn't allowed her tospeak.

This was symbol of the suffering the families go through this process

Besides official Bios, and knowing Airan in person, he’s a guy that has an immense love for his country and his family and was a truly disciplined guy learning Spanish in prison

We can tell here the story that on Sunday, February 13th, 2022, by that time we were authorized to have a very tiny tv in our “room” ( By that moment already were occurring talking’s our release, and the Venezuelan Government relaxed a little our situation) and we manage two days before with our family and planned to see the game and invite Luke and Airan and we got the permission to them to go to our cell, and we could see the?super bowl, and the coolest thing was we had some hotdogs, slices of pizza, coke, and popcorn, for us was the best feast ever

We truly hope these two friends can get released soon and be back with their families. They deserve it

In our next Chapter, we will continue to talk about more Hostage cases: This time we introduce other 2 Americans classified as wrongfully detained by the US government: Eyvin Hernandez and Jerrel Kenmore that are currently Hostages in Venezuela

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We will also continue our defense of all those who continue to be unjustly detained around the world as part of wicked hostage diplomacy. For more information, please visit Twitter and Instagram, go to @BOFHCampaing

If you want to know more about the book, we are written in the Citgo6story, you can go to:

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And remember

"Never give up, never lose hope, never lose faith"

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