Top US hostage negotiator defends prisoner exchange with foreign countries

The US government’s top hostage negotiator defended the prisoner exchanges that have allowed the freedom of Americans whom Joe Biden’s government considers unjustly detained in foreign countries in exchange for convicted criminals, and rejected on Thursday that such agreements are an incentive for the arrest of more United States citizens.

“The figures don’t add up. In fact, it is going downwards, in the opposite direction,” said Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, about the number of Americans wrongfully detained.

The list has been narrowed even as President Biden’s administration has shown a willingness to do so. agreements with rival powerssomething that, Carstens said, shows that this does not encourage other countries to detain more Americans under false premises.

“According to my numbers,” he added, “they are going down.”

The deals “are always complicated decisions,” with the federal government often spending years trying to determine what the other country wants in exchange for the release of an American prisoner. The answer is usually a convicted criminal imprisoned in the United States.

To bring back the WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia, for example, the United States released the arms trafficker in 2022 Viktor Bout. And last December, the Biden government exchanged a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who was imprisoned on money laundering charges in exchange for the release of 10 Americans behind bars in the South American nation, as well as the return of Leonard Glenn Francis, a businessman who was on the run.

“To some extent, it is unacceptable because the decisions are difficult. But, the alternative is for those Americans to come home,” Carstens said.

Carstens denied that federal authorities take into account a detainee’s notoriety, rejecting the idea that the United States focused more on Griner’s case because of her popularity as a professional basketball player.

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