The Venezuelan government on Saturday released an American, Josh Holt, whom it has held since 2016 on weapons charges, US President Donald Trump and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch said in separate posts on Twitter. Holt, a Mormon missionary from Utah, was returning to the United States and expected to arrive in Washington on Saturday evening, Trump said in a tweet that described Holt as "the American hostage". The news of Holt's release came a day after Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met in Caracas with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The pair met less than a week after Maduro won re-election in a vote that the United States did not recognize. Venezuelan authorities arrested Holt in June 2016 while he was in Venezuela for his wedding.

Source: dna May 26, 2018 16:17 UTC