American Convicted of Murder Is Freed by Trump From Venezuela Prison
The Trump administration said it was protecting Americans unjustly held abroad. One of the rescued men, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, killed three people, according to court documents.
The Trump administration said it was protecting Americans unjustly held abroad. One of the rescued men, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, killed three people, according to court documents.
www.nytimes.com
“When the State Department secured the release of 10 Americans and permanent legal residents from a Venezuela prison last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
hailed the action as part of an effort to safeguard the well-being of Americans unjustly held abroad.
But one of the men released from the prison, an American-Venezuelan dual national named Dahud Hanid Ortiz, had been convicted in Venezuela for the
murder of three people in Spain in 2016, according to an official at the prosecutor’s office in Madrid and Venezuelan court records reviewed by The New York Times.
… Mr. Hanid Ortiz, 54, had served 19 years in the in United States Army, according to military documents, and had been awarded a Purple Heart for injuries received in Iraq. He had multiple deployments and suffered physical and mental injuries as a result of his service, according to the Army. He was later dismissed from the military after pleading guilty to fraud and larceny.
Then, in 2023, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a triple homicide committed in Madrid in 2016, according to Venezuelan court documents and
Spanish news media coverage….”