An American and his wife held nearly two years in a Venezuelan jail received a hero’s welcome at the White House on Saturday as they returned home following their release — a bid by sanctions-hit Caracas to spur dialogue with Washington.
However, US officials immediately squelched any suggestion that punitive measures against Venezuela would be eased after the release of Joshua Holt, 26, and his wife, Thamara Caleno.
“Very glad that Josh Holt is now back home with his family - where he has always belonged. Sanctions continue until democracy returns to Venezuela,” US Vice President Mike Pence said in a tweet.
“US policy toward Venezuela remains unchanged,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
He said in a statement that “the United States stands steadfast in support of the Venezuelan people and their efforts to return to democracy.”
The couple’s release followed a two-year effort by US Senator Orrin Hatch and after Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Friday.
The senators joined Holt, his wife, parents, the freed couple’s daughter, Marian, and other US officials in the White House for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
“You were a tough one. That was a tough situation,” Trump said. “You’ve been very brave, actually.”
After expressing her appreciation to the US president and officials, Holt’s mother, Laurie, said that “I also want to say thank you to President Maduro for releasing Josh and letting him come home.”
Maduro ordered the couple’s release as a “gesture” aimed at promoting dialogue between Caracas and Washington, Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez told reporters in Caracas.
He said it was part of “efforts to maintain a respectful dialogue, diplomatic relations of respect, that permit gates to be opened to avoid the aggressions to which [Venezuela] has been subjected.”
He apparently was referring to US sanctions, which Washington has tightened since Maduro was re-elected on Sunday last week in elections that the US rejected as a “sham.”
The intensified sanctions would complicate Venezuela’s efforts to sell off financial IOUs known as “accounts receivable.”
Senior US administration officials said the instruments had been used to garner much-needed revenue for the cash-starved regime.
Holt, a 26-year-old Mormon missionary from Utah, had traveled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry Caleno, whom he had met on the Internet.
Shortly after they married, the couple was arrested by the Venezuelan intelligence service, Sebin, and accused of possessing weapons and plotting to destabilize the Maduro government.
Top officials in the Maduro regime labeled Holt a US spy.
In December last year, the Venezuelan Ministry of Justice decided to bring the couple to trial and rejected a petition for his conditional release.
Holt and his wife were being held at a prison in Caracas known as the Helicoide, where the Sebin keeps political prisoners.
Earlier this month, he surfaced during a protest by opposition activists jailed in the massive hilltop structure, and appealed for US help in a video posted on Twitter.
“I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude,” Holt said in the meeting with Trump.
After Trump strengthened the sanctions, Maduro retaliated by giving the two top US diplomats in the nation 48 hours to leave, accusing them of conspiring against his government.
In taking the oath of office on Thursday last week, Maduro acknowledged that the sanctions are biting and “we have to change this country.”
On Friday, human rights monitors reported the release of 20 activists who had been jailed in the western state of Zulia for protesting against the government.
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