The jungle Venezuelan hostages represent a common tactic for South American dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. In fact, in Venezuela, the Bolivarian regime has increasingly used enforced disappearances as a way to silence and intimidate political opponents. They are husbands and wives, daughters and sons, merchants, doctors, and medical students. Enforced disappearance-a common practice by Venezuelan government officials-aims to prevent those being arbitrarily detained from defending themselves, scaring them into submission and silence. Human rights organizations have tracked more than 720 enforced disappearances in Venezuela during a two-year period. Also after the 1976 coup, Argentina's military set about systematically crushing any potential opposition, and eventually "disappeared" and murdered --30,000 people-- almost all of them civilian, unarmed non-combatants.
Wendell Pierce doesn't speak Spanish or Russian but he speaks both languages in Season 2.
When Mike November jokes about being reassigned to Djibouti, he's referring to a small country located on the horn of Africa, next to Ethiopia and across the water from Yemen. The capital city of Djibouti is Djibouti City.
Though it doesn't look like it, all the actors are strapped into the helicopter for flying shots.
The news report on Reyes' political prisoners and the shallow graves found at his military site is an example of how the Americans try to counteract the Reyes campaign of disinformation.