
A former U.S. Navy SEAL was among ten Americans and U.S. permanent residents released from Venezuelan detention on Friday as part of a high-level prisoner exchange. The deal involved the swap of 252 Venezuelan migrants from the United States to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Wilbert Joseph Castañeda, 37, a Navy veteran originally from Mexico and raised in Houston, was arrested in Venezuela in September 2024. Venezuelan officials, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, accused him of leading a group of foreign operatives involved in an alleged CIA-backed plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.