Donald Trump secures the release of a US citizen held in Venezuela

Josh Holt's Mother, Laurie Holt, holds up a picture of her son. USA Today/AP.

Josh Holt, an American citizen held in Venezuela, has been released. USA Today. Holt had been imprisoned in Venezuela on weapons an espionage charges and released a video saying that he feared for his life. He had been caught up in a prison riot and though he might be killed. Venezuela released Holt as a goodwill gesture with US Senator Bob Corker. Holt had been in Venezuela to marry his wife, who he met while looking for other Mormons to speak Spanish with. Venezuela has an economic and political crisis due to its socialist government and relations between the country and the United States are not good. 

I am pleased to join Senator Hatch and President Trump in announcing the release of Josh and Thamy Holt. We are on our way home. pic.twitter.com/0Ku2pzwOYL

— Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) May 26, 2018

My Comment:

Say what you want about President Trump, but he does seem to be very good about getting US citizens held by foreign governments out of trouble. Trump managed to secure the release of several prisoners in North Korea and now has rescued a man from Venezuela. Doing so is a major accomplishment and he, along with the GOP senators that helped make this happen, deserve a lot of credit for this. 

It seems to me that rescuing prisoners like this is a major priority for the Trump administration. The cynical view is that he just wants the positive attention but that explanation could have been used for previous presidents who didn't work this hard at securing these releases. My guess is the Trump administration genuinely wants these people to come home. 

As for Holt himself, he seems pretty lucky to be alive. Venezuela is a mess right now and their prisons are even worse. A prison riot is an extremely dangerous situation regardless of the country, but if you are an American citizen in a country that doesn't like America? It's about as bad as it can be and Holt is very lucky to be alive. 

I don't know too much about the charges against Holt. The USA Today post says he was charged with espionage and weapons charges. The espionage charges seem obviously fake but I haven't heard much about the weapons charges. I kind of doubt that a missionary from Utah was packing heat though. 

Venezuela didn't really strike me as a place that's obviously dangerous to go to for an American. Obviously that isn't true since this case, but before I would have though it wouldn't be anymore dangerous than any other country of the same level of stability. That's not really saying too much but I'd probably put it on the level of Mexico or Brazil. Dangerous if you don't know what you are doing but otherwise safe. The fact that he was arrested shows that Venezuela is, in fact, different. Throwing this man in jail was a political descion by the Venezuelan government and that means that I would not want to travel there under any circumstances.

I don't know how much this will help US-Venezuela relations. Though the release of North Korean prisoners did lead to a cooling of tensions and high level diplomatic contacts, I don't know if that is in the cards with Venezuela. They just aren't a priority compared to other countries, though the US would like it if the country became more stable and less hostile to the United States. Releasing this prisoner may help with that in the long run, but it is too soon to tell.

Of course, given how unstable Venezuela is right now I wouldn't be too surprised if further news stories about the country are about either war or revolution. There have been rumors of both for quite some time and I think there is a very good possibility that the whole country could collapse without us doing anything. That's another reason that securing Josh Holt is a very good thing...