Trump Again Calls for the Release of LDS Returned Missionary Held in Venezuelan Prison

The Trump administration called for the release of a Utah man imprisoned in Venezuela in a new round of financial sanctions on the South American country Friday.

“The United States is very concerned about the situation of Joshua Holt, a young American being detained illegally by the (President Nicolas) Maduro regime for over a year now. We once again call for his immediate release on humanitarian grounds,” according to an executive order President Donald Trump signed Friday.

Trump called for Holt’s release last month while considering the latest sanctions against Venezuela.

Holt, a 25-year-old former LDS Church missionary, traveled to Venezuela to marry a woman he met online while looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish.

Venezuelan officials allege he was using his wife’s apartment to stockpile weapons and have suggested his case is linked to other unspecified attempts by the U.S. government to undermine Maduro’s socialist rule amid deep economic and political turbulence.

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