Joshua Holt, who spent two years in prison in Venezuela, after being arrested on trumped-up charges, returned home to the United States Saturday, after weeks of negotiations between the American government and Venezuela’s despotic regime.
Joshua Holt, who spent two years in prison in Venezuela, after being arrested on trumped-up charges, returned home to the United States Saturday, after weeks of negotiations between the American government and Venezuela’s despotic regime.
Holt ended up in Venezuela after meeting a Mormon woman there on a website designed to help students learn to speak better Spanish. A month after arriving in Caracas, Holt was arrested, accused of stockpiling weapons, and labeled a foreign spy and CIA agent, CBS News reports. He and his Venezuelan now-wife held for nearly two years in a “notorious Venezuelan prison” for enemies of the state, run by dictator Nicolas Maduro’s “secret police.”
The United States reportedly saw an opening to rescue Holt when his trial was delayed following Maduro’s questionable re-election last week. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) traveled to Caracas to secure Holt’s release.
Holt and his wife arrived in Washington, D. C. on Saturday night. Sunday morning, President Donald Trump welcomed Holt and his family to the White House where he commended Holt’s survival skills through a “very tough ordeal.”
Joshua Holt is one of seventeen hostages released during the Trump Administration, something President Donald Trump noted at the public meeting Sunday morning. Most recently, three hostages were returned home after being imprisoned in North Korea.
The Holt family issued a statement thanking Corker and the U. S. government for bringing their son home. “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.”
The White House and several Congressional offices released statements Sunday morning reassuring Americans that our foreign policy towards Venezuela, which is now a socialist dictatorship, has not changed and that we remain opposed to Maduro’s rule, and attuned to his people’s suffering.
