The Latest: Utah man freed from Venezuelan jail returns home

SALT LAKE CITY – The Latest on the homecoming of a Utah man, Joshua Holt, who has been held in Venezuela for two years without a trial (all times local):

8 p.m.

An American man held in a Venezuelan jail for nearly two years is back home in Utah.

Josh Holt arrived at the Salt Lake City airport Monday night to cheering and tears from about 100 family and friends carrying signs in his favouritecolour, green. His grandmother draped an American flag around his shoulders as he exchanged long hugs with one person after another.

Holt spoke briefly to share his thanks to everyone from senators to close friends. He said he and his wife Thamara Caleno hadn’t slept much and were exhausted.

The couple was freed this weekend.

Holt was arrested in June 2016 on suspicion of weapons charges that he and his family say were bogus. His wife was arrested in the same sweep.

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12:35 p.m.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is urging engagement with Venezuela’s socialist government after he travelled to the South American nation to bring home a Utah man jailed for two years without a trial.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee stressed in an interview with The Associated Press that “nothing was asked, and nothing was given” in exchange for Joshua Holt’s freedom. But he says the 26-year-old’s release Saturday as a goodwill gesture by President Nicolas Maduro shows what can be achieved through dialogue with the United States’ adversaries.

Corker travelled to Venezuela in 2015 only to be snubbed by Maduro. He says he was received more warmly this time because Maduro is feeling “somewhat confident” after he was re-elected a little over a week ago in what the U.S. considered a “sham” vote.

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10:45 a.m.

A Utah man freed this weekend after being held in a Venezuelan jail for nearly two years is scheduled to return to Salt Lake City on Monday night after getting medical care and visiting President Donald Trump in Washington.

Laurie Holt says family and friends will meet her son Joshua Holt and his wife, Thamara Caleno, at the airport to welcome them home.

The couple arrived in Washington on Saturday after secret, backchannel negotiations between a U.S. congressional staffer and Venezuelan officials finally secured his freedom.

Holt had a tearful reunion with his parents in Washington but has yet to see his three siblings. He and his wife have been receiving medical treatment in Washington from a team with experience helping people return from captivity.

Holt was arrested in June 2016 on suspicion of weapons charges that he and his family say were bogus.