Former hostage negotiator says he doesn’t see Maduro as ‘a bloodthirsty drug dealer’

Former Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he doesn’t necessarily consider Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro a “bloodthirsty drug dealer” despite the Trump administration’s image of the man.

Carstens, who previously served under former President Joe Biden and the first Trump administration, told the news program that he “wasn’t shocked” at the news that Maduro had been captured by U.S. military forces on Saturday.

Host Scott Pelley asked Carstens whether he agreed with the current Trump administration’s violent depiction of Maduro.

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“I don’t think so,” Carstens said. “And yet— let me answer that by this way. In one way I could say I’m not naïve to the crimes that were committed by the regime writ large. And if you’re the president of a country you of course have responsibility for what’s being happen—what’s happening—in your government.”

He continued, “On the flip side, I would say that being the person in the room with President Maduro my job was to get Americans back and that’s best done by building a very human relationship. And in doing so, I didn’t find him to be a bloodthirsty maniac. I found him to be— a practical person, someone who wanted to find ways to solve the problems—that was— were faced by his country.”

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Carstens added that he wouldn’t describe Maduro as an international drug dealer based on the knowledge he had received about the political leader during his time in office.

“I think the— the country clearly touched drugs—and there’s information— I always have to be very— clear that I might see certain amounts of information and there’s always a treasure trove of information that I’ve never seen or never will see due to classification or compartmentalization. But what I witnessed was not someone who’s necessarily hard-core in the drug business. And I’ll be interested to see in how the prosecution goes about proving their case,” Carstens said.

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During his time in the Biden administration, Carstens took part in several hostage exchange deals with Venezuela, including one in 2022 that exchanged seven Americans for two nephews of Maduro’s wife.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

President Donald Trump confirmed U.S. military strikes against Venezuela on Saturday. He has since said that until a legitimate leader replaces Maduro, the U.S. is “going to run” the country.