American languishes in jail, accused of trying to destabilize Venezuela according to minister

8/23/2016 washingtonpost.com / Max Bearak reported in many ways, politics in Venezuela increasingly resembles politics in North Korea. An authoritarian and corrupt government consolidates power as food supplies dwindle and political opponents are thrown in jail. Problems at home are blamed on a favorite external scapegoat: the United States. To be an American and travel in either country is to risk becoming an unwitting pawn in that propaganda ploy.

The latest American to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is Joshua Holt, 24, of Riverton, Utah.

To hear Venezuela’s interior minister tell it, Holt is not only an agent of U.S. intelligence but a dangerous terrorist mastermind hellbent on destabilizing Venezuela with his uniquely American obsession with guns. Read Article