A U.S. Marine who was held captive in Venezuela for two years under Nicolás Maduro’s regime recalled on Tuesday being handcuffed and electrocuted after he says he was wrongfully detained.Matthew Heath, a corporal in the Corps from 1999 until 2003, says Maduro detained Americans to be used as “trading chips” and a policy tool, telling CBS News’ Major Garrett on “The Takeout” that he was arrested by Venezuelan authorities in September 2020 after showing Venezuelan authorities his passport at a regular checkpoint.”I was placed in their holding facility called Casa de los Sueños, the House of Dreams,” Heath said. “I can assure you it does not live up to its name.”There are at least four detained Americans being held in Venezuela, according to a hostage advocate familiar with the situation. Health says they’re under “terrible treatment” without access to clean drinking water or medical facility and recounted his own experience.”I was tortured. They handcuffed me to the frame of metal bed and electrocuted me with a car battery and jumper cables,” he told CBS News. “It’s not exactly polite conversation but I can tell you that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”Health was accused of entering Venezuela illegally, the prosecutor said, claiming that he didn’t have a passport but rather had a copy of it hidden in one of his shoes. Three Venezuelan nationals were also accused of conspiring with Heath. The Venezuelan government also accused him of being a spy and charged him in an alleged terrorist plot to sabotage oil refineries and electrical service in order to stir unrest.The Marine was released in October 2022 along with six other Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the U.S. on drug smuggling convictions. Their release came after senior U.S. government officials traveled to Caracas that summer in a bid to bring home detained Americans. The trip also followed a public plea from Heath’s family to the Biden administration to take urgent action to save his life following what they said was a suicide attempt.When asked whether he wants President Trump to publicly call on the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to released the detainees, Health said it would likely help the moral of their family members — but added that Mr. Trump can do more.”I think [Mr. Trump] should get on the phone tonight. Call Delcy Rodríguez and say that he’s sending a plane down there and that he’d like them loaded on that plane immediately. I think that we still got time to get them home tonight,” Heath said.
