Josh Holt released from Venezuela prison

This July 30, 2016, file photo shows Laurie Holt, the mother of Joshua Holt, a Utah man who, at the time, was being held in a Venezuelan prison, during a rally at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. | Associated Press photo by Rick Bowmer, St. George News

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (AP) — A Utah man jailed in Venezuela on weapons charges nearly two years ago was released Saturday after U.S. officials and his family pressed for his freedom from the South American country.

“We are grateful to all who participated in this miracle,” Joshua Holt’s family said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said Holt and his family were expected at the White House on Saturday evening.

“Good news about the release of the American hostage from Venezuela. … The great people of Utah will be very happy!” Trump said in a tweet.

The 26-year-old Holt had gone to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry a woman he met online while he was looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. Holt’s wife, Thamara, also was freed, said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Hatch, who has worked on Holt’s release for the past two years, said the 26-year-old would would be reunited with “his sweet, long-suffering family” in Riverton, Utah.

Their release came after Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, on Friday, two days after the embattled socialist leader kicked out the top U.S. diplomat in the country.

In a statement from Hatch’s office, the senator thanked Corker and others for their part in the release. He said:

I want to thank Chairman Bob Corker for his pivotal efforts, and that of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for their help in this effort. I want to particularly thank Caleb McCarry, whose expertise and effort in Venezuela on my behalf has been instrumental in bringing Josh home.

Earlier in May, Holt made an emotional plea for Americans’ help in getting him out of the Caracas jail, saying in a clandestinely shot video that his life was threatened during a riot in the country’s most-notorious prison.

Read more: Utah man jailed in Venezuela pleads for freedom amid prison riot

The U.S. government at first avoided ratcheting up public pressure on Venezuela amid already strained relations between the two countries but eventually raised Holt’s case to the highest levels of the Venezuela government. Hatch and Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, also lobbied on behalf of Holt and decried his poor treatment in prison.

Joshua Holt of Riverton, Utah, with his wife, Tamara. Holt was charged with weapons violations that have been linked with the death of a government official in Venezuela, photo date and location not specified | Photo courtesy of ‘Justice for Josh’ Facebook page, St. George News

Holt had planned to spend several months in Caracas in the summer of 2016 with his new wife, Thamara Candelo, and her and her two daughters, to secure their visas so they could move with him to the U.S.

Instead, the couple was arrested at her family’s government housing complex on the outskirts of Caracas. Authorities arrested him on June 30, 2016 and accused him of using his wife’s apartment in Caracas to stockpile weapons and suggesting his case was linked to other unspecified U.S. attempts to undermine President Maduro’s rule amid deep economic and political turbulence.

His wife also was jailed on allegations of being Holt’s accomplice.

Holt’s mother, Laurie Holt, said all along that her son and his wife were wrongly accused. She worked feverishly to bring attention to her son’s incarceration, hosting rallies, fundraisers and doing media interviews.

Laurie Holt said her son has suffered numerous health problems in jail, including kidney stones and respiratory problems. He was depressed and at one point lost so much weight that he dropped several pant sizes, she said.

In their statement, the Holt family said, “We thank you for your collaboration during this time of anguish. We ask that you allow us to meet with our son and his wife before giving any interviews and statements. We are grateful to all who participated in this miracle.”

Written by CATHERINE LUCE and JOSHUA GOODMAN, Associated Press.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

3 Comments

  • mesaman May 26, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    What? No anti-Hatch whining, whimpering or disrespecting?

    • comments May 27, 2018 at 12:36 pm

      everyone here has pretty well caught on to Orrin ‘the crypt keeper’ hatch, except maybe you, m&m. It’s just you here whining, as far as I can tell.

      • Real Life May 27, 2018 at 5:17 pm

        Mesaman whining? Nooooo.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.