Freed From Venezuelan Jail, Houston Oil Executive Describes Being Used as a Bargaining Chip
Jose Pereira lost 100 pounds, survived Covid-19 and a heart attack before his release this month by the Maduro regime
Jose Pereira, wearing mask, and five other oil executives who were summoned to Caracas and detained for nearly five years until their release earlier this month, in a photo posted on Twitter by Venezuela’s foreign minister in 2020
For nearly five years, Houston oil executive Jose Pereira was jailed in Venezuela, spending long stretches in isolation in an underground cell, deprived of medication and surviving on chicken scraps and rice.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Pereira said he had lost 100 pounds and survived two bouts of Covid-19 and a heart attack by the time he was freed earlier this month, after high-level talks between the Biden administration and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime.
