LOS ANGELES — Ana Sandoval has been waiting for a miracle over five months as she and her son, Henry Martínez, have been trying to bring 44-year-old Eyvin Hernández home to Los Angeles.
Eyvin, Ana’s son and Henry’s brother, is allegedly being held captive in Venezuela.
“I’m very worried, very worried, because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Sandoval with tears in her eyes. “We are always waiting for good news, but it never comes. We are all very worried and sad.”
It all started when Hernández went on vacation to Colombia. The trip was going great, until “he decided to accompany his friend along the border to get her passport stamped,” said Martínez.
As they approached the Venezuelan border, “he was hooded, put in the back of a pickup and kidnapped,” said Martínez.
At first, the family did not know what had happened to him. Thinking he was still in Colombia, they called and texted, searched hospitals and filed police reports in Colombia.
“I would have nightmares that I would have to fly out to Colombia and identify his body, and that was probably the worst part,” said Martínez.
Then, a few days later, a lawyer in Venezuela called to let them know, Hernández was allegedly being held captive by the Venezuelan government. In a cruel twist of fate, Hernández, who has dedicated his life as a public defender to representing the most needy Angelenos in court, is suddenly the one in need of legal help.
“He’s always had a good heart, and he could have gotten a good job, but he preferred to help people instead,” said his mother in Spanish.
Jonathan Franks is a crisis management consultant who specializes in wrongful detentions. He believes Hernández is being used as a pawn, either to trade him for Venezuelans currently imprisoned in the U.S. or for concessions.
He said Americans must be vigilant when they travel.
“We now have some wrongful detainees in Honduras, we have one or two in El Salvador, right, you have to be careful, and Venezuela again holds the largest collection of Americans of any state actor in the world,” said Franks.
At least 10 other Americans are being held in Venezuela and 65 around the world according to the Foley Foundation. The U.S. Department of State has confirmed to Spectrum News 1 that Hernández is being held in Venezuela, and that they are monitoring the situation.
Over the summer, President Biden signed an executive order that makes it easier to place sanctions and visa bans on people involved with hostage taking and wrongful detentions.
The family said the government is not moving fast enough.
“He spent his 44th birthday inside and I’m not gonna wait to miss out on another birthday,” said Martínez. “So, I’ll be doing all the necessities that I can do to get him a little bit closer to his freedom.”