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Richardson's work complements diplomatic efforts by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and others. Hatch said this week he's still hopeful the efforts will pay off.
Richardson has met three times with Venezuela's Ambassador to the United Nations, Rafael Ramirez, to discuss the case as well as with former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero, who last year attempted to bring Maduro to the negotiating table with his political opponents. Although Holt was not known to be part of that dialogue effort, one of the Venezuelan opposition's key demands for talks is freedom for political prisoners.
Richardson, who got to know Maduro when the president served as the late Hugo Chavez's foreign minister, said he was told through informal channels since the unrest began three months ago that the government was open to him visiting Caracas to make the case for a humanitarian release."
"Holt and his wife are being held in a prison run by Venezuela's intelligence police and his parents became even more worried about his future after the recent death of U.S. university student Otto Warmbier, who spent 17 months in detention in North Korea for stealing a propaganda poster. Warmbier died days after returning home to Ohio in a coma."
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