By Elizabeth Llorente, Fox News
The United States argues Venezuela – mired in a rapidly descending spiral of political unrest, skyrocketing crime and an inability to provide basic goods and services – is using him in a manipulative game.
Venezuela in turn accuses the U.S. of playing politics over him.
Meanwhile Joshua Holt, a 26-year-old Mormon missionary who traveled to Venezuela in the summer of 2016 to marry his then-girlfriend, languishes in a Caracas jail cell, with no apparent end to his plight.
Holt and his bride, Thamara Caleno Candelo, met on a Mormon singles website, and had planned to return together to the United States after getting married. They’re instead going on 20 months jailed in El Helicolde, a Venezuelan government building where numerous dissidents are being held on what human rights groups say are largely trumped-up charges.
Venezuelan authorities claim Holt and his wife were stockpiling weapons, and have suggested they were part of a U.S. plan to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro. But witnesses say they saw Venezuelan police, accused of demanding $10,000 from Holt and Candelo, plant weapons just before arresting the couple – and announcing the discovery of the arms.
“It’s political, given the history between Venezuela and the United States in the last 17 years,” Holt’s attorney, Carlos Trujillo, told Fox News. “The Venezuelan government always accuses the United States of plotting a regime change. They claim [Holt] is an agent for the CIA and was preparing for a coup.”
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