{"id":56224,"date":"2020-10-31T18:53:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T18:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/31\/mystery-surrounds-marine-veterans-imprisonment-in-venezuela\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:56:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:56:36","slug":"mystery-surrounds-marine-veterans-imprisonment-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/10\/31\/mystery-surrounds-marine-veterans-imprisonment-in-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery surrounds Marine veteran\u2019s imprisonment in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t WORRY!,\u201d reads the cryptic note scribbled on a scrap of perforated paper smuggled out of a dank, basement cellblock. \u201cHan Solo always wins!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weeks-old message is all the family of Matthew Heath has to pin its hopes on since the former U.S. Marine corporal was arrested at a roadblock in Venezuela almost two months ago and accused by President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of being a terrorist and spying for Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But other than the brief mention by Maduro, the American\u2019s plight has largely gone unnoticed. Nobody in the family or Trump administration has spoken to Heath. Nor has the Maduro government \u2014 never shy about taking a swipe at the U.S. \u2014 shared a video of the former intelligence contractor as it did when it nabbed two former Green Berets tied to a failed beach raid<\/a> in May to overthrow him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, for the first time, Heath\u2019s family in Knoxville, Tennessee is breaking its silence. In an interview with The Associated Press, they denied Heath went to South America with the aim of plotting against Maduro and insist he always kept on the straight and narrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they are at a loss to explain some of his movements, including an earlier arrest on weapons charges in neighboring Colombia, where he arrived in March on a fishing boat with two other U.S. vets. Their theory: he was desperately traversing the tip of South America during a near-total coronavirus lockdown in search of passage to Aruba, where his newly-purchased boat lied waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy guess is he was an American in the wrong place at the wrong time,\u201d said Everett Rutherford, who is married to Heath\u2019s aunt. \u201cIt was a bonehead idea and it didn\u2019t help once they could figure out his history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heath, 39, was arrested Sept 10 traveling along the Caribbean coast accused of scheming with three Venezuelans to sabotage oil refineries and other infrastructure to stir unrest. Authorities said they found images of targets on Heath\u2019s cellphone and they displayed pictures taken indoors of a grenade launcher, plastic explosives, and a bag of U.S. dollars they said was being transported by the \u201cterrorist cell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But many suspect the evidence was planted. None of the items were displayed in the first outdoor photos taken at the roadblock where they were arrested. Nor was there anywhere to be seen a National Guard sergeant arrested with the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials immediately denied sending Heath to Venezuela and advocated for his humane treatment. Coming on the heels of the foiled incursion in May organized by Florida-based security firm Silvercorp, which flopped mightily with the death of six Venezuelan fighters and two Green Berets thrown in jail, any additional American freebooting would\u2019ve been a stretch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Heath\u2019s reputation for discretion, background in signals intelligence for the Marines and past work as a U.S. government contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan seemed straight out of a Tom Clancy novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even his family has asked whether he was on some sort of secret mission \u2014 although there\u2019s no evidence linking him to the Silvercorp fiasco<\/a> or other possible mercenary activity that Maduro says was prompted by the U.S.’ $15 million bounty on his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\t