--- title: Imprisoned in Venezuela | TIME description: Utah native Josh Holt is one of several Americans being held overseas in hostile countries. TIME speaks with his mother, Laurie Holt, who has spent the last year fighting for his release on humanitarian grounds. canonical: https://time.com/video/alD2Wogi/ og:title: Imprisoned in Venezuela og:description: Utah native Josh Holt is one of several Americans being held overseas in hostile countries. TIME speaks with his mother, Laurie Holt, who has spent the last year fighting for his release on humanitarian grounds. og:url: https://time.com/video/alD2Wogi/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/alD2Wogi/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Imprisoned in Venezuela twitter:description: Utah native Josh Holt is one of several Americans being held overseas in hostile countries. TIME speaks with his mother, Laurie Holt, who has spent the last year fighting for his release on humanitarian grounds. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/alD2Wogi/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Imprisoned in Venezuela > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Imprisoned in Venezuela [Watch (HLS stream): Imprisoned in Venezuela](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/alD2Wogi.m3u8) (5:24)  _Published 2017-07-26. Utah native Josh Holt is one of several Americans being held overseas in hostile countries. TIME speaks with his mother, Laurie Holt, who has spent the last year fighting for his release on humanitarian grounds._ --- Jul 28, 2023 4:21 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis](/video/vuE2xeWr/) ### A Quick Look at Venezuela’s Political Crisis [Former Chad Dictator Sentenced to Life Imprisonment](/video/giEQHw6H/) ### Former Chad Dictator Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Emilio and Josh](/video/FogtH24P/) ### Emilio and Josh --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Josh has always been a very tender hearted person. He's a very loving person, vibrant. He just lights the room up when he walks in. He met Tammy online They started messaging each other on Facebook, when it was just like non stop that they were calling each other all the time. He would come up the stairs and he'd have her on the phone, mom say hi to Tammy, and that kept going literally until he left. He went to Venezuela on June 11, 2016, where he planned on marrying Tammy. [ APPLAUSE ] I remember, getting videos sent to me and pictures sent to me. It was kind of a sad day from me just because he is my first child to get married and I wasn't even able to be there. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] I remember pulling up into the drive way getting out of my car at the same time my daughter Katie was and her saying mum I got a message on my phone that Josh and Tammy have been taken. Taken and put in prison . >> [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] I remember thinking to myself, my gosh, is this a hoax? There's no way this is true, this doesn't happen. We just kind of sat down and it was like, what do you do? They're thousands of miles away. That was when I decided to start the media frenzy in trying to get everything out into the public eye about it. High power call For the release of Josh Holt the Utah man held for months in a Venezuelan prison >> He has had one hearing after another where the judge has not showed up and there is no end in sight. There's the man I love >> You're a sweetheart >> You are so so so so sweet >> We're gonna get him but it's sure a mess. We would like to begin by thanking all of the media that have taken the time to come and support the whole family at this very difficult time now that Josh Hole has reached one year in prison in Venezuela. He; s suffering right now. I just want him to be home. So that this can all end and her family can be whole again. In the first six months the response from the United States was here and there once the new Trump administration took over. I felt like these cases are important to President Trump And I felt like new found hope that I would get him home. We're keeping the pressure on. The President knows about this. The Vice- President knows about this. The Secretary of State knows about this and so many others do. And we would just have to hope and pray that See the light, that some of these folks adhere to American. [ MUSIC ] I would like to highlight this morning, the bittersweet feeling that my family has. Relief that Otto is now home In the arms of those who love him and anger that he was so brutally treated for so long. When I heard about Otto Warmbier's death, it was unbelievable to me that another family was going through the same thing that we had been going through but longer. Just knowing how that family felt, the excitement of seeing their son come home and how great that had to have felt and then to have that be the outcome is devastating. For our family that is definitely something that could happen. Josh has had a lot of physical ailments since he's been taken. He's had bronchitis, he's had pneumonia. He also recently has fallen off of his bunk. He has a severe concussion and we're not sure if he's fractured his back. I know that he's been very depressed, I know that he has been actually been suicidal. We've actually even been told that he's wanted us to just move on without him, to just stop worrying about him and live our life. And that is not something that I will do. Our faith is the only thing that has gotten me through this. When I just feel like I can't take this any more. I can't do this anymore. And I feel like giving up. Those are the times that I think, well Josh can't give up. So you can't give up. I'm gonna get him home. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Imprisoned in Venezuela","description":"Utah native Josh Holt is one of several Americans being held overseas in hostile countries. 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