SALT LAKE CITY—The family and friends of a Utah woman who spent nearly two years pushing to get her son freed from a Venezuelan jail was remembered for her fearlessness and determination at her funeral Saturday.
Fifty-year-old Laurie Holt died unexpectedly Feb. 10 at her Riverton, Utah, home, less than one year after her son, Josh Holt, returned to the United States after being imprisoned for nearly two years on weapons charges that the Holts and U.S. politicians said were invented. Laurie Holt’s husband says she died peacefully but the family has not said what caused her death.
“She fought so hard in every single thing she did,” Josh Holt told hundreds of mourners who gathered inside a Latter-day Saints church in Riverton, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. “She fought so hard for me.”
Josh Holt said his family has received letters of support since his mother’s death, including many from people who never met her but were inspired by her relentless efforts to bring her son and his new wife back to the United States, the Tribune reported.
“That is my mother,” Josh Holt said. “She is my hero. She taught us so much.”
Laurie Holt, originally from Pocatello, Idaho, is survived by her husband and four adult children.
Her family noted in her obituary that she always found laughter in small things, even in life’s “darkest storms,” and found a way to juggle work, family, and outside functions.
“We have lost our biggest hero, but heaven has gained a mighty warrior,” the obituary said.
Her son, Josh Holt, returned to the United States with his Venezuelan wife, Thamara Caleno, in May 2018 after he was imprisoned in June 2016.
Holt went to the socialist country in June 2016 to marry Caleno, who he met online.
He had planned to spend several months in Caracas with his new wife and her two daughters to secure their visas so they could move with him to the United States.
Instead, the couple was arrested and accused of stockpiling weapons. Venezuelan authorities suggested the case was linked to unspecified U.S. attempts to undermine the power of the country’s socialist dictator, Nicolas Maduro, amid deep economic and political turbulence.
Laurie Holt denied the accusations on her son’s behalf and raised awareness about her son’s incarceration by hosting rallies and fundraisers and doing media interviews.
Their release came after secret backchannel talks between an aide to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
President Donald Trump hosted the Holts at the White House to commemorate the release.
