Josh Holt, a Utah man who has been jailed in Venezuela for almost two years awaiting trial on weapons charges, has been released, U. S. President Donald Trump announced in a Tweet early Saturday.
Josh Holt, a Utah man who has been detained in Venezuela for almost two years awaiting trial on weapons charges, has been released, President Donald Trump announced in a Tweet early Saturday.
Trump said Holt, 26, would be in Washington, D. C.., Saturday evening at about 7 p.m.
“The great people of Utah will be very happy,” Trump wrote.
The announcement came as a the Venezuelan government had appeared to be doubling down on claims that Holt was a U. S. government agent. Last week, Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela’s most powerful politicians, called him the “Latin American head” of the Central Intelligence Agency and a “mercenary.”
Holt and his family have always maintained his innocence, saying he traveled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry Thamara Caleño, a fellow Mormon whom he met on a religious dating site.
The two were arrested just days after their marriage when the apartment they were sharing with her children was raided. The police said they found a hand grenade and automatic weapons at the home, but eyewitnesses to the arrest told the Miami Herald that the evidence had been planted.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
