Enlisted US Sailor Detained in Venezuela as Tensions Between the 2 Countries Simmer

An enlisted American sailor was detained by authorities in Venezuela on Friday and is still being held by the nation, a U.S. official confirmed to Military.com.

The official said Wednesday that the sailor was "not authorized to travel, meaning not on official travel or approved leave" when they were detained. The State Department is working with the Venezuelan authorities to secure the sailor's release, they said.

This sailor is now the third enlisted service member to be held by a hostile country in the span of just over a year: A U.S. soldier was briefly detained in North Korea, and another soldier is imprisoned in Russia. The news of the sailor's detention also comes just days after the Department of Justice announced the seizure of a private jet that was used by Venezuela's leader, President Nicolás Maduro.

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The sailor's detention, which was first reported by CNN, seems to be the latest in a series of events that has showcased the growing tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. Those tensions have been building since Venezuela's July 28 election between Maduro and Edmundo González, which officials from several countries say was stolen by Maduro.

On Monday, a judge aligned with Maduro's government issued an arrest warrant for González after the opposition leader published voting tallies claiming to show Maduro lost the election, according to The Associated Press.

The State Department has long warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Venezuela, citing "a high risk of wrongful detention."

The travel warning also notes that Venezuela's "security forces have detained U.S. citizens for up to five years" and the U.S. "is not generally notified of the detention of U.S. citizens in Venezuela or granted access to U.S. citizen prisoners there."

The unnamed sailor is just the latest in a string of service members to find themselves in the jail of a hostile nation after failing to heed travel warnings.

In May, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested in Russia and has been in prison there ever since.

Black was assigned to the Eighth Army at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, and was supposed to travel to an Army base in Texas, but he instead flew to Russia to meet his girlfriend, Aleksandra Vashchuk. Social media posts showed that the pair were in a relationship for at least a year while she was in South Korea.

Russian state-run media reported that while Black was in the Russian port city of Vladivostok he and Vashchuk got into an argument, during which he grabbed her by the neck and stole 10,000 rubles -- around $115 -- and spent the money on his hotel room.

The 34-year-old soldier was convicted of stealing and making threats of murder by a Russian court in June, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

Before Black, Pvt. Travis King drew international attention in July 2023 when he left a tour group and dashed across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, which detained him for about two months.

King was also stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea and was supposed to board a plane back to the States after a spate of arrests by South Korean authorities led to jail time for him there.

The two cases suggest that the consequences for the sailor now detained in Venezuela will largely depend on whether U.S. officials are able to secure their return.

Lawyers for King said that the soldier reached a plea deal with the Army just last week over some of the charges he faced in the wake of his dash into North Korea.

Meanwhile, the only action the Army has taken on Black was to place him on "CCA," or "Confined Civilian Authority," status on May 13 -- just days before he pleaded guilty in his case.

Related: Army Private Who Ran into North Korea Will Plead Guilty to Desertion, 4 Other Charges as Part of Plea Deal