The Venezuela detention: a public-record timeline

752 days, September 2020 – October 2022. Every entry below is drawn from, and linked to, the public record.

Arrested at a Venezuelan checkpointMatthew Heath, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Tennessee, is detained by Venezuelan authorities and subsequently charged with offenses related to treason, terrorism, and arms trafficking — charges the U.S. State Department would call "specious."
The case becomes a diplomatic focal pointThe State Department and the U.S. Embassy for Venezuela (operating from Bogotá) repeatedly and publicly call for his release. Senators Bill Hagerty and Ted Cruz call for his immediate and unconditional release; his family campaigns through the Bring Our Families Home coalition.
500 days of captivityThe U.S. Embassy marks 500 days of his detention with a public statement pressing for his release.
Two years of captivityThe State Department publishes "Matthew Heath's Two Years of Captivity in Venezuela," documenting the U.S. government's position on his case.
Released in a prisoner exchangeHeath and six other Americans are freed in a swap between the United States and Venezuela. President Biden announces the release in a White House statement naming him: "Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home … Matthew Heath…"
Advocacy and advisory workHeath advocates for Americans unjustly detained abroad, including through the nonprofit Hostage US, and builds a Latin America risk advisory practice focused on political risk, crisis response, and detention preparedness.
National commentary after Maduro's captureFollowing the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Heath provides commentary to CBS News, Fox News, and WBIR on Venezuela, detention diplomacy, and the use of detained foreigners as leverage.

His advisory practice draws directly on this experience: few advisors in this field have been the subject of a hostile-state detention and the two-year diplomatic negotiation that ended it. Read the practice briefing on wrongful-detention risk, or see the services.

Primary sources