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Topics: Celebrity, Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Travel, Business, World News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Celebrity, Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Travel, Business, World News
Retired condom business tycoon Eric Arthur has spoken out following his return from Venezuela where he alleges he was held captive.
After selling his condom manufacturing business, at the age of 62, Eric Arthur bought a 48-foot yacht - named Tambo - and began crossing the Atlantic in December, seeing in the New Year's in Barbados before heading to Venezuela. However, his trip didn't go to plan.
On January 6 at around 11:30pm, Arthur's yacht ended up colliding with some rocks and he was forced to board his life raft, taking fresh water, his laptop and a radio.
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He sent out SOS messages every hour and after three days, his signals were picked up by a group of fisherman.
Alas, rather than being saved, Arthur's troubles were only just beginning, the fishermen delivering the retiree to a Venezuelan military base on a remote island where military officials allegedly demanded he read a statement to a camera the next morning thanking President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro for saving him and saying 'how great' he is.
Branding it 'propaganda,' Arthur refused - and it reportedly didn't go down well, leading to a 10-hour boat ride to another island, the retiree placed 'under coast guard watch, house arrest,' at a military commander's home.
Despite allegedly being told by military officials he would be freed, Arthur says he was moved to a prison in Caracas where he was stripped from his belongings, allegedly forced to sit on a chair for 14 hours a day, not allowed to stand or talk much.
The radio was played and lights kept on so Arthur didn't get much sleep either.
And he was there alongside multiple other Americans too.
As part of one of his executive orders to deport illegal immigrants, Trump had Venezuelan nationals who didn't have permission to be living in the US, rounded up by federal officers. A White House official was sent to Caracas on January 31, helping seal a deal with Venezuela to get some Americans transferred back in return.
Venezuela agreed to the deal and the release of six American men who'd been arrested in Venezuela between September and December on charges such as espionage or terrorism. However, Arthur had not yet been charged with a crime and wasn't part of the deal.
When two other prisoners refused to leave their cells, Arthur was allowed to take one of their places instead and has since returned to the US but is left with the memories, resolving he doesn't 'know if [he'll] ever want to leave the country again'.
UNILAD has contacted the Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs for comment.