The U.S. State Department had earlier warned U.S. citizens in Venezuela to leave immediately, saying in part that there were "of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizenship or support for the United States."

The prisoner's face lit up when his wife visited and told him that the man responsible for his detention was himself behind bars: Venezuela's deposed leader Nicolas Maduro.