A Los Angeles attorney detained for five months in Venezuela is pleading for help from the Biden administration
Ana Sandoval, mother of Eyvin Hernandez, a Los Angeles attorney who has been detained for five months in Venezuela, hugs her son Henry Martinez, Hernandez's half-brother, while posing for photos in Compton, Calif., Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Los Angeles attorney detained for five months in Venezuela is pleading for help from the Biden administration, saying in a secretly recorded jailhouse message that he feels forgotten by the U.S.
Henry Martinez said his brother sent him the voice message Aug. 21. A copy was also provided to the State Department, which has been weighing whether to turn Hernandez's case over to the administration's special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens. He said the uncertainty, isolation and human rights violations are taking a toll, with two Americans having already attempted suicide and a third on the brink with daily mental breakdowns.The AP was unable to verify Hernandez's claims. But United Nations officials have long complained about theand about conditions at the facility where Hernandez and several other Americans are being held.
Before they knew it, the cab was stopped along a dirt path, and the two were ordered to get out and walk across the invisible border separating the two countries. Adding to the Hernandez family’s anguish is the fact that he isn’t classified as wrongfully detained, a definition that covers Americans believed innocent or jailed for the purpose of exacting concessions from the U.S. Without such designation, a process that can take months, the U.S. government’s ability to push for his release is limited.