MIAMI (AP) — The United States has freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery scandal, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.

The American prisoners were back on U.S. soil late Wednesday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. Six of them arrived at Kelly Airfield Annex in San Antonio.

Savoi Wright, a Californian who was arrested in Venezuela in October, said: “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last” after getting off the plane.

The deal represents the Biden administration’s boldest move yet to improve relations with the largest oil producer and extract concessions from the self-proclaimed socialist leader. The largest release of American prisoners in Venezuela’s history comes weeks after the White House agreed to suspend some sanctions after Maduro pledged to work for free and fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election.

Maduro hailed the return of Alex Saab as a “triumph of truth” over what he called a U.S.-led campaign of lies, threats and torture against someone he believes to be a Venezuelan diplomat, acting illegally on a U.S. warrant was arrested.

“President Biden, we will not be anyone’s colony,” said a defiant Maduro, with Saab at his side for the hero’s welcome at the presidential palace.

The release of Saab, long seen by Washington as a digger for Maduro, is a significant concession to the Venezuelan leader. Former President Donald Trump’s administration held up Saab as a trophy and spent millions of dollars pursuing the Colombian-born businessman. Once, after his arrest in Cape Verde, she even sent a navy warship to the coast of West Africa to ward off a possible escape.

U.S. officials said Biden’s decision to grant him clemency was difficult but essential to bringing imprisoned Americans home, a key administration goal that in recent years has led to the release of criminals once considered untraceable.

“These people have lost far too much valuable time with their loved ones and their families have suffered every day because of their absence. I am grateful that her ordeal is finally over,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The agreement also resulted in the return to U.S. custody of Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian owner of a ship maintenance company who is the central figure in one of the biggest bribery scandals in Pentagon history.

But the exchange angered many in the Venezuelan opposition, who criticized the White House for standing by while Maduro repeatedly outmaneuvered Washington after the Trump administration’s campaign to oust him failed.

Eyvin Hernandez, a Los Angeles County public defender who was arrested on the Colombia-Venezuela border nearly two years ago, was one of the U.S. detainees. After arriving in Texas on Wednesday evening, he thanked Biden “because I know he has made a difficult decision that will put him under a lot of pressure on Capitol Hill.” But he brought us home and we are with our families . That’s why we’re all incredibly grateful.”

Hernandez added, “Honestly, the only thing you think about in prison is that while you were free, you didn’t appreciate freedom.”

Wright told reporters: “I didn’t know if I would ever come out. And it’s really scary to be in a place where you’re used to freedom and locked in a cell. … It’s a very challenging situation.”

In October, the White House eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry after Maduro promised to level the playing field for 2024 elections in which he aims to extend his decade-long, crisis-ridden rule by six years. A Nov. 30 deadline has passed and Maduro has so far failed to lift a ban that had prevented his main opponent, María Corina Machado, from running for office.

Biden told reporters earlier in the day that Maduro so far appeared to be “living on his commitment to a free election.” Sharing the sentiments of many members of the U.S.-backed opposition, Republicans said releasing Saab would only encourage Maduro to continue on his authoritarian path.

“Disgraceful decision,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The White House has gone out of its way to assure that it will not hesitate to lift sanctions if the Venezuelan government fails to fulfill its electoral commitments agreed upon in negotiations with the opposition. A $15 million reward for Maduro’s arrest on drug trafficking charges in New York also remains in effect, it said.

The deal also calls for Maduro’s government to release 20 Venezuelan political prisoners and suspend arrest warrants for three other Venezuelans, in addition to a close ally of Machado.

The U.S. has conducted several swaps with Venezuela in recent years, including one in October 2022 for seven Americans, including five oil executives at Houston-based Citgo, in exchange for the release of two nephews of Maduro’s wife who are in the U.S. on drug charges imprisoned charges are. Like that earlier exchange, Wednesday’s exchange took place on an airstrip in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Saab, who turns 52 on Thursday, hugged his wife and two young children as he descended the stairs of a private jet at Simon Bolivar International Airport.

It was a stark reversal of the scene on another tarmac in Cape Verde, where he was arrested in 2020 during a refueling stop en route to Iran to negotiate oil deals on behalf of the Maduro government. The U.S. charges involved conspiracy to launder money in connection with a bribery scheme that allegedly siphoned $350 million through government contracts to build affordable housing. Saab was also sanctioned for allegedly operating a scheme that stole hundreds of millions of dollars from food import contracts at a time of widespread famine, largely due to shortages in the South American country.

After his arrest, Maduro’s government said Saab was a special envoy on a humanitarian mission and was entitled to diplomatic immunity from prosecution under international law.

“Life is a miracle,” Saab said as he stood next to Maduro in the neoclassical presidential palace in Caracas. “I am proud to serve the Venezuelan people and this government, a loyal government that, like me, never gives up. We will always triumph.”

Missing from Maduro’s chest-thumping was any mention of Saab’s secret meetings with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. In a closed-door court hearing last year, Saab’s lawyers said he had helped that agency for years expose corruption in Maduro’s inner circle and had agreed to forfeit millions of dollars in illegal proceeds from corrupt state contracts.

However, the value of the information he shared with the Americans is unknown; Some have suggested it may all have been a ploy authorized by Maduro to gather information about U.S. law enforcement activities in Venezuela. Be that as it may, Saab skipped the handover date in May 2019 and was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami shortly afterwards.

The deal is the latest concession by the Biden administration in the name of returning home Americans detained abroad, including a high-profile prisoner swap last December when the U.S. government traded — despite objections from some Republicans in Congress and criticism from some law enforcement officials the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout against WNBA star Brittney Griner.

The exchange has raised concerns that the U.S. is incentivizing hostage-taking abroad and creating a false equivalence between Americans wrongfully imprisoned abroad and foreign nationals who have been properly prosecuted and convicted in U.S. courts.

“What happened to the separation of powers?” said Juan Cruz, who oversaw the White House’s relations with Latin America while serving on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. “Normally you would have to wait until a defendant is found guilty to be able to pardon them for an exchange. This is a particularly bad precedent as Trump 2.0 may be just around the corner. It invites the leader to wink and nod.”

But Biden administration officials say securing the freedom of wrongfully detained Americans and hostages abroad will require difficult agreements.

Making this deal more palatable to the White House was Venezuela’s willingness to return Francis.

Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard” because of his bulging 6-foot-3 frame, was arrested at a San Diego hotel nearly a decade ago as part of a federal undercover investigation. Investigators say he defrauded the U.S. military of more than $35 million by buying off dozens of high-ranking naval officers with alcohol, sex, lavish parties and other gifts.

Three weeks before his sentencing in September 2022, Francis pulled off an escape as breathtaking and audacious as the case itself, cutting off his ankle monitor and disappearing. He was arrested by Venezuelan police while attempting to board a flight from Caracas and has been in custody ever since.

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Tucker reported from Washington and Garcia Cano from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Jim Mustian in New York, Julie Watson in San Diego and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.