{"id":1418,"date":"2018-03-08T12:17:10","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2018-03-08T12:17:10","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T12:17:10","slug":"reuters-as-sanctions-loom-venezuelan-official-seeks-u-s-talks-over-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/03\/08\/reuters-as-sanctions-loom-venezuelan-official-seeks-u-s-talks-over-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Reuters: As sanctions loom, Venezuelan official seeks U.S. talks over prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As sanctions loom, Venezuelan official seeks U.S. talks over prisoners<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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posted by: Colin Bunn<\/div>\n
Reuters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Venezuelan state governor made an unusual visit to Washington this week, seeking meetings in Congress to discuss the fate of a U.S. citizen imprisoned in the South American nation, U.S. sources said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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FILE PHOTO – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro talks to the media after a meeting for signing an agreement on guarantees for the vote at the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela March 2, 2018. REUTERS\/Marco Bello<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As the threat of fresh U.S. sanctions on socialist Venezuela loomed, Rafael Lacava, governor of Venezuela\u2019s Carabobo state, requested meetings to discuss Josh Holt, a Mormon missionary from Utah. He and his Venezuelan wife, Thamara Caleno, have been held since they were arrested in 2016 on weapons charges after Holt traveled to Venezuela for their wedding.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are aware that (Lacava) is here. There are suspicions that the Venezuela government is using the illegitimate detention of Mr Holt as a bargaining chip to talk about U.S. sanctions,\u201d a U.S. official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Holt and until he is released we continue to insist on regular ongoing consular contacts with him as called for under international law,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

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It is unusual for an official allied with Venezuela\u2019s socialist government, a U.S. adversary, to visit Washington for such meetings.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is considering new sanctions targeting Venezuela\u2019s oil sector to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro ahead of an election Washington and its allies consider a sham.<\/p>\n

Maduro confirmed Lacava\u2019s visit during a speech in Caracas, saying: \u201cHe\u2019s gone to Washington for some peace efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another U.S. source familiar with the situation confirmed Lacava was visiting to discuss Holt, but did not believe sanctions would be discussed in Congress since lawmakers would defer to the administration on any such matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I am not able to speculate on what else might be on Mr Lacava\u2019s agenda, I want to make very clear that the sole purpose of such meetings would be to encourage the release of Mr Holt and his wife,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be no negotiation, and any claim to the contrary is simply false,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

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Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and other lawmakers are working for Holt\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Senator Hatch prefers to not share details of sensitive meetings related to his nearly two year effort to have Josh Holt released on humanitarian grounds, he is optimistic he is making progress and will continue to work with the State Department and colleagues in the Congress to identify those to meet and work with who can get it done,\u201d Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said.<\/p>\n

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Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick, additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Vivian Sequera in Caracas; writing by Patricia Zengerle Editing by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O’Brien<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Our Standards:<\/span>The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As sanctions loom, Venezuelan official seeks U.S. talks over prisoners posted by: Colin Bunn Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}