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This is the latest in a series of articles related to the KSL Podcast, “Hope In Darkness.” Find all episodes at kslnewsradio.com/hope-in-darkness.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man who spent nearly two years in prison in Venezuela says he owes his survival, at least in part, to one of Venezuela’s most wanted men.

It’s a new detail you’ll hear for the first time in Episode 7 of the KSL Podcast “Hope In Darkness: The Josh Holt Story.”

Holt, arrested on June 30, 2016, spent the first roughly six weeks of his imprisonment in Venezuela in solitary confinement.

El Helicoide, the prison where he was held on accusations of spying for the U.S. government with his wife, Thamy, is well-known for housing political prisoners: People who were arrested because they spoke out against the Venezuelan government. Some of the political prisoners there, after learning about the Holts’ arrest, started to lobby for Holt to be moved to a new cell with better living conditions.

Holt was surprised when the guards showed up and told him he was moving.

“At first, I didn’t really know what to expect, because now I’m with other people,” he recalled.

In solitary confinement, Holt was trapped in a cell just slightly bigger than a twin-sized bed where he slept on a pile of rags on the floor. His new cell was larger — a room about 15 feet by 15 feet with three twin-sized beds in it. Those beds were already occupied, so Holt found himself on the floor by the wall.

His new cellmates mostly kept to themselves. Franklin Hernández, a well-known soccer coach, was accused of terrorism. Venezuelan investigators deferred his case repeatedly without ever presenting evidence against him.

The next man in the cell, Colombia, whose real name was Leiver Padilla, was charged with the murder of a Venezuelan national assemblyman, Robert Serra. Colombia was extradited from Colombia to face the charges in Venezuela. By the time Holt arrived at El Helicoide, Colombia had already been there a year. He maintained his innocence to the Miami Herald, saying he was set up by Serra’s bodyguard.

Holt’s spot on the floor was closest to a man called “Buñuelo.” At first, Holt said, Buñuelo spent most of his time on his phone.

“And I kind of got a vibe from him at the very beginning that he was kind of on edge,” Holt said.

He learned later Buñuelo was keeping his distance because he wasn’t sure yet if Holt could be trusted — that he wasn’t a snitch.

“And that’s when I found out that he was one of the top 10 most deadliest people in Venezuela, and I’m sleeping maybe a foot away from him,” Holt said.

Venezuela’s most wanted

Buñuelo was an alias that translates roughly to “the doughnut” — specifically, a type of fried dough fritter popular in Latin America. The man behind the alias was named Claudio Giovanni Jimenez Gomez. He was accused of killing a police officer with a grenade, then trying to evade capture by holding a woman and her daughter hostage.

Buñuelo was curious about Holt. Who was this guy? Why was he there? How did he learn Spanish?

Holt told him about his Spanish-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Buñuelo didn’t know what a mission was, so Holt started describing it for him.

“I told him about when you get out into the mission field, after you get done with the MTC — the Missionary Training Center — and you’re out in the field now … and you have a person that’s there with you. And that person, we normally call our ‘dad,’ because he teaches us things. And he normally calls us their ‘son.’ And so I just remember, he looked at me and he put his hands on my shoulder, and he said, ‘Well, then, you’ll be my son, and I’ll be your dad, and I’ll teach you everything there is to know here in prison,’” Holt recalled.

And that’s when I found out that he was one of the top 10 most deadliest people in Venezuela, and I’m sleeping maybe a foot away from him.

–Josh Holt

Lessons on the inside

Holt said he learned a series of lessons about surviving in prison from Buñuelo.

“He taught me ways to read the guards,” Holt said. “You had to know what was going on with them to know whether or not they were going to come in and raid your cell.”

Another lesson centered on generosity with the people around him.

“He said, ‘What do you do when someone comes up to you and asks you for a roll of toilet paper?’” Holt recalled.

He told Buñuelo he would only tear some off a small amount that he would be willing to give. Buñuelo told him that was the wrong answer.

“He goes, ‘Well, that’s one of those things that you have to fight over. Do you want friendship and people that’ll be on your side, or would you rather fight with people because you don’t want to give them toilet paper?’ And I said, ‘OK. That makes sense.’”

Buñuelo even taught Holt how to fold newspaper to more effectively relieve himself in a cell with no bathroom.

“There’s a thing that they called a boat, and there’s a special way to fold that, so that way, when you go to the restroom, it all stays right there and it doesn’t go off the toilet paper,” Holt said.

His interactions with Buñuelo also reinforced a lesson he learned from his parents: not to judge a book by its cover.

“And so that’s how I came to know Buñuelo,” Holt said. “I knew him as just who he was next to me, not the things that he’d done before.”