Jose Angel Pereira is a 59-year-old former interim president and CEO of Citgo, a PDVSA subsidiary in the US, from Cypress, Texas. On November 21, 2017, he was arrested along with 5 other colleagues during a work meeting that was held at the headquarters of the State Petroleum Company of Venezuela (PDVSA). They were accused of having signed a contract under unfavorable conditions for Venezuela. On August 6, 2020, they were brought to trial after spending three years in prison, and on November 26, 2020 (Thanksgiving Day in the US), Jose Angel Pereira was sentenced to 13 years and seven months in prison, without the existence of evidence in which the signing of the said contract will be accredited. The USG has said that they are wrongful detainees of the Venezuelan government, who have them as bargaining chips, to obtain certain benefits and the USG has requested their release on different occasions. During these more than 1,600 days deprived of his most fundamental right, which is freedom, his health has deteriorated notably. He lost 130 pounds in the first 6 months of his detention, he suffered a spinal injury during his imprisonment and he requires surgery, contracted COVID 19 twice, suffered a heart attack last year, and had scabies due to the antigenic conditions of the prison.