AI-image by Grok: Maduro has hostages, now.Five behind enemy lines.As the siege of Venezuela goes into overdrive with multiple strikes on drug boats and even the first reported attack on a land target associated with the Cartels, the Caribbean has become a veritable powder keg.In this context, it was first reported by the New York Times (behind a paywall), that at least five Americans are being detained right now in Venezuela.The New York Post reported:“James Luckey-Lange, 28, of Staten Island, is among the recently US citizens imprisoned in Venezuela, with the New Yorker deemed to be wrongfully detained.”James Luckey-Lange – Social Media X“Luckey-Lange, whose family reported him missing earlier this month, disappeared soon after entering Venezuela’s border as part of a long trip across Latin America that was inspired by the death of his mother, musician Diane Luckey.”Number of Americans detained in Venezuela has risen since US increased pressure on regime: Report https://t.co/x543Pz0meZ— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) December 31, 2025NEW from @nytimes: Venezuela has detained at least 5 Americans since Trump’s military escalation against Maduro. One is James Luckey-Lange, 28, who entered Venezuela from Guyana. US officials have discussed whether he and another detainee should be labeled unlawful detainees. pic.twitter.com/uEzDMdIdqO— Edward Wong (@ewong) December 31, 2025“It’s unclear if Luckey-Lange entered Venezuela with a visa, with the grieving son writing on his blog earlier this month that he planned to research gold mining near the Guyana-Venezuela border.He was last heard from on Dec. 8, when he informed his family that he was heading to Caracas to catch a flight home to New York on Dec. 12.”A year ago, in February 2025, Domald J. Trump – via his envoy Richard Grenell – secured the release of six ‘hostages’ from Venezuela.But now it’s a different ball game.BREAKING | President Trump’s envoy @RichardGrenell just departed Venezuela with six Americans who were taken hostage by Nicolas Maduro’s regime under Biden’s tenure pic.twitter.com/Q9Tsg6t357— VOZ (@Voz_US) February 1, 2025Read more:Trump Says ‘It Would Be Smart’ for Venezuela’s Dictator Maduro To Leave Power and Flee the Country (VIDEOS)/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i