Freed American, wife arrive in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly two years after a trip to meet the woman he loved resulted in imprisonment in a Venezuelan jail, an exhausted but grateful Utah man arrived home with his wife.

Josh Holt arrived at the Salt Lake City airport Monday to a tearful, cheering crowd. His grandmother draped an American flag around his shoulders as he exchanged long hugs with person after person while the crowd sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Holt spoke briefly to thank everyone who helped him and his wife, Thamara Caleno, get released from jail but said they were exhausted, feeling like they’d gotten “maybe four hours of sleep in four days.”

Standing nearby were his parents, celebrating a homecoming they’d worked tirelessly to bring about.

Laurie and Jason Holt woke at 4:30 a.m. last Saturday to a phone call they had been anticipating for two years.

Their son, Josh Holt, now 26, traveled to Caracas in June 2016 to marry a fellow Mormon he had met online while looking to improve his Spanish. The two were waiting for Caleno’s U.S. visa when they were arrested at her family’s apartment in a government housing complex.

Josh Holt and his Venezuelan wife were locked in a Caracas jail for what the U.S. government argued were bogus charges of stockpiling weapons.

Laurie Holt said her son is in good health but lost weight, suffered a number of bronchial problems in prison and has a rotten tooth that needed checking out. Caleno has more serious pain issues on one side of her body.

His Salt Lake City welcoming committee included Caleno’s daughter from a previous relationship, 7-year-old Nathalia Carrasco, who has been living at Laurie Holt’s home since February. Caleno’s other daughter, Marian, traveled with the couple from Caracas.