ORLANDO, Fla. – A man who lived in Orlando prior to taking a job in Central America is back in the United States after federal officials negotiated a deal for the release of 10 Americans being held in Venezuela.
Joseph Cristella’s family has said he moved to the Dominican Republic for a contracting job, where he fell in love and got engaged to a Venezuelan native. His family said Cristella took a trip to Columbia to meet his fiancé near the Venezuelan border when he was detained and taken inside Venezuela in September 2022.
Top officials at the U.S. State Department and the White House have made Cristella’s release a top diplomatic priority. Cristella is one of the six prisoners the Biden administration said was wrongfully detained on terrorism charges.
Cristella’s cousin and aunt-in-law said they look forward to being reunited.
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“Exciting, hug him. Thank God he’s alive, well. I’m sure he has a long road ahead of him, but he has a lot of family that is willing to step in and offer their help, and he needs to know that,” the two said. “He needs his family. Joey loves his family, and he needs his family.”
Diane Foley’s son, American journalist James Foley, was murdered by ISIS in 2014. Since his kidnapping and killing, she has devoted her life to bringing others like Cristella back home by creating the James Foley Foundation.
“We are over the moon. This is a Christmas gift,” Foley said about Cristella’s release.
Foley said negating prisoner releases between foreign powers is challenging.
“They are so complicated because it means you have to talk to people who resort to kidnapping or wrongfully detaining our citizens. So they are often people we don’t like to deal with,” Foley said.
Cristella didn’t speak to the media when he landed but was seen hugging U.S. military members who welcomed him once he took his first step back on American soil.
The release comes with criticism, including from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. His office released a statement expressing disapproval.
Rubio criticized the tradeoff, saying that Colombian money launderer Alex Saab — who was released by the U.S. as part of the negotiations — being let go would result in a moral hazard.
“President Biden’s actions to reward the taking of American hostages by first lifting sanctions, releasing Maduro’s nephews, and now Alex Saab is shameless. Saab is the architect of Maduro’s corruption and money laundering operation that deprived resources from the people of Venezuela. Unfortunately, this exchange will only embolden dictators to kidnap more Americans,” Rubio said.
Maduro celebrated the return of Alex Saab as a “triumph for truth” over a U.S.-led campaign of lies, threats and torture against someone he considers a Venezuelan diplomat illegally arrested on a U.S. warrant.
On Wednesday, Biden told reporters the release is part of a deal where the Maduro regime agreed to conduct a free and fair election.
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