American jailed in Venezuela for 2 years to return home to US

A group of Venezuelan political police officers, SEBIN, with their faces covered stand on guard at the main door of SEBIN headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, May 16, 2018. American Joshua Holt, who has been jailed in Venezuela without a trial for two years, has been released, officials said today.

Family grateful for Utah man’s ‘miracle’ Venezuela release

In this photo released by the Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, shakes hands with Republican Senator Bob Corker during a meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday May 25, 2018. The Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro two days after the embattled socialist leader kicked out the top U.S. diplomat in the country.

US Sen. Corker meets with Venezuela’s President Maduro

In this photo released by the Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, shakes hands with Republican Senator Bob Corker during a meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday May 25, 2018.

Venezuelan president expels top US diplomat Source: AP

President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday expelled the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela and his deputy for allegedly conspiring against his government and trying to sabotage the country's recent presidential election. "The empire doesn't dominate us here," Maduro said in a televised address, giving charge d'affaires Todd Robinson and his deputy Brian Naranjo 48 hours to leave the country.

US rejects ‘insult to democracy’ as Venezuela president Maduro pursues second term

The United States condemned Venezuela's election as "an insult to democracy" and opposition leaders rejected a "fraud foretold" on Sunday as low voter turnout looked to have spoiled what President NicolA s Maduro had promised would be a great "fiesta" of democracy. Venezuela's 34,000 polling stations - open since 6am when Maduro cast the first vote - had been due to close at 6pm.

Laurie Holt holds a photograph of her son, Joshua Holt, at her home,…

The U.S. State Department has expressed concern over the welfare of a Utah man jailed in Venezuela, a day after he managed to upload a video to Facebook saying inmates at his prison had seized the complex and were trying to kill him. As we have reported previously , 26-year-old Joshua Holt traveled to Venezuela in 2016 to marry Thamara Caleno Candelo, whom he met online.

This day in history, April 28, 2018

In 1789, there was a mutiny on the HMS Bounty as rebelling crew members of the British ship, led by Fletcher Christian, set the captain, William Bligh, and 18 others adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. In 1918, Gavrilo Princip, 23, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the archduke's wife, Sophie, died in prison of tuberculosis.

Venezuela rockers push anti-Maduro anthems as Americas Summit soundtrack

CARACAS: A group of Venezuelan rock bands hope to popularize songs against President Nicolas Maduro by handing out a CD called "Rock Against Dictatorship" during a summit of Latin American and North American countries in Lima this week. The 16-track disc ranges from catchy pop tunes to angry punk anthems that denounce corruption, hunger and human rights abuses at the hands of the ruling Socialist Party, which has overseen a devastating collapse of the once-prosperous nation.

Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions took secret trip to Venezuela that his office says was peace mission

Questions are swirling around Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions after reports that the Republican secretly met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas this week during a previously undisclosed trip to the South American country. Sessions' office is billing the trip, first reported by the Associated Press, as a peacekeeping mission.

China hits back at US criticism of oil-for-loan investments in Venezuela

China's support for Venezuela has benefited ordinary people and been broadly welcomed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday after the United States Treasury accused Beijing of aiding Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government with murky oil-for-loan investments. In a Friday speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the US Treasury's top economic diplomat, David Malpass, said China's focus on commodities and opaque financing deals had hurt, not helped, countries in the region.

Venezuelan socialists release some political prisoners ‘for Christmas’

Delcy Rodriguez, president of the National Constituent Assembly, speaks during a meeting of the Truth Commission in Caracas, Venezuela, in this file photo taken Aug 16. CARACAS: Three dozen opponents of Venezuela's socialist government were released from prison and reunited with loved ones on Sunday as part of a wider Christmas release, a local rights group said. Lambasted by critics at home and abroad for holding around 270 activists in prison, President Nicolas Maduro's administration said on Saturday it was releasing 80 of them with alternative sentences like community service.

Thirty-six Maduro foes freed in Christmas gesture in Venezuela

CARACAS: Three dozen opponents of Venezuela's socialist government were released from prison and reunited with loved ones on Sunday as part of a wider Christmas release, a local rights group said. Lambasted by critics at home and abroad for holding around 270 activists in prison, President Nicolas Maduro's administration said on Saturday it was releasing 80 of them with alternative sentences like community service.

Trump’s sanctions seek regime change in Venezuela

On November 3, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed a meeting with creditors, for November 13 in Caracas, to discuss a restructuring of Venezuelan public debt. On November 8, the US administration reacted by warning US bondholders that attending this meeting could put them in violation of US economic sanctions against Venezuela.

White House considers Nicaragua sanctions for Venezuela links

The Venezuelan opposition met with members of Donald Trump's administration last week to urge the White House to sanction Nicaragua and a company whose joint venture they say is helping to prop up the government in Caracas, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations. Five Venezuelan opposition party officials and activists met Thursday on Capitol Hill with U.S. State Department officials and staffers for the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees.

After visit, U.S. Venezuela policy took turn

President Donald Trump's decision to suddenly announce a major change in U.S. policy toward Venezuela in February began with an unexpected Oval Office meeting with Lilian Tintori, the wife of the country's most prominent political prisoner. At the White House to meet Vice President Mike Pence and press the administration to do more about human rights in her home country, Tintori was whisked in to see Trump, who seemed unfamiliar with her story but praised her past as a reality television star in Venezuela's version of Survivor.