Corpus Christi Citgo executive Alirio Zambrano and five other Citgo executives remain jailed in Venezuela almost 16 months since their arrest by Venezuelan authorities, but, the family wants the people of Corpus Christi to know that the support pouring in is making a difference.
“The community support’s already making a difference…and elevating their case…and making this a priority,” Alexandra Zambrano Forseth tells 6 Investigates.
Forseth is Alirio Zambrano’s oldest daughter.
“I’ve gotten many private messages about my Dad and who – what he was to the people of Corpus and we just thank you, and we can’t give up, and we’ll keep you updated on any developments.”
6 Investigates has followed the plight of the Citgo 6 since late 2017, when Zambrano and five other Citgo executives were arrested during what they believed was a last-minute business meeting Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas.
Venezuela owns the company that owns Citgo.
After more than a year of silence, Zambrano’s family opened up to 6 Investigates, last month.
And, despite widespread calls for their release, little has changed about the mens’ condition or status, since.
They remain in custody in the basement of a government building in Caracas, where families say the men are malnourished, isolated and homesick.
“The conditions are the same down there,” she says. “They’re barely taken (outside.) They’re deprived of just so much.”
One Corpus Christi lawyer who watched the report called the situation, “appalling,” and says Zambrano and the others are more like political prisoners than criminal defendants.
And as unrest reaches a crescendo in the troubled country, Forseth says the men hear rumors authorities will harm the men if the Maduro regime topples.
Meanwhile, neither Citgo nor the U.S. Department of State are commenting on the men’s status and what efforts are being made to bring them home.
Forseth says her father – and the other five members of the Citgo 6 – are innocent of the charges levied against them, charges that include embezzlement and treason – against the Venezuelan government.
If you would like to keep up with the Citgo 6, updates are posted periodically on Twitter.
