Well, here's something that doesn't happen too often.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami awarded $314 million in damages to three U.S. citizens who were imprisoned and tortured by Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela before being freed in a 2023 prisoner swap.
The three men were Jerrel Kenemore, a Texas computer scientist who'd moved to neighboring Colombia to be with a woman he met. He was kidnapped by paramilitaries in 2022 while visiting a grocery store near the Venezuela-Colombia border and held for over 600 days before being charged with "espionage" and "counterintelligence activities." He claims he was beaten, held in harsh conditions, and degraded constantly.
Edgar Jose Marval was detained for just over 120 days, but allegedly suffered the most abuse. He was beaten repeatedly until his back was broken, had his genitals electrocuted, and was tortured psychologically with made-up threats to his children. Jason Saad, the third hostage, was detained for 560 days and was subjected to similar treatment, but we don't have quite as many details on him.
If you'll remember, Joe Biden handed Alex Saab — Maduro's bagman — over in exchange for these Americans. While I'm glad they did make it back to the United States safely, I'd like to remind everyone that Donald Trump brought every single remaining U.S. hostage back home from Venezuela about a year ago, with the help of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, and made no concessions to Maduro. As a matter of fact, six months later, he scooped him up and put him in jail. But I digress.
Related: Biden's Venezuelan Disaster
The original lawsuit was filed in August 2025 against Maduro, Saab, and several other regime officials, including "interim president" Delcy Rodríguez, as well as PDVSA (the Venezuelan state-run oil company) and Maduro's Cartel de los Soles. It was filed under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, along with Florida's version, which allows U.S. citizens to sue for damages from acts of international terrorism, including hostage-taking and torture by designated or de facto terrorist entities.
Because none of those entities responded, the judge issued a default judgment against what he called Maduro's "criminal enterprise."
In his 19-page ruling, Judge Gayles wrote that the kidnappings were "committed in order to support Maduro’s dictatorial rule over Venezuela, which in turn allowed the Maduro Criminal Conspiracy to earn ill-gotten gains."
For what it's worth, back in April, Delcy was removed from the lawsuit due to her current status as a head-of-state, which grants her immunity. I'd also like to point out that Gayles is an Obama appointee, so I'm shocked that he managed to find fault with Maduro. I thought the left loved themselves a good dictator.
Anyway, while I doubt these three men see much, if any, of this money, this was a pretty powerful move and maybe the largest of its kind. It reinforces the U.S. accusations that Maduro and his buddies ran Cartel de los Soles and were involved in drug trafficking and other crimes that had a negative impact on our country, something many leftists like to dispute. It also underscores how the Maduro regime committed — and continues to commit — human rights abuses at will. And now it's all on an official court record. Thank you, Judge Gayles.
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