Services
Advisory for corporations, family offices, NGOs, and exposed individuals operating where political and security risk is the operating environment.
Strategic Risk Assessment
Political, security, and operational risk analysis for organizations operating in or entering Latin America.
Detention & Travel-Risk Advisory
Exposure reviews and wrongful-detention preparedness for executives, employees, and families in high-risk jurisdictions.
Crisis Response & Preparedness
Contingency planning, incident support, and stakeholder coordination when situations turn.
Retained Advisory
Ongoing counsel for corporations, family offices, and organizations with sustained regional exposure.
How engagements work. Typically structured as advisory retainers, fixed-fee assessments, executive briefings, or crisis-response support. Most begin with a scoped diagnostic conversation.
In the public record
“Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home … Matthew Heath…”
— Statement from President Joe Biden, October 1, 2022
About Matthew
Matthew John Heath is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and security consultant advising companies, family offices, and organizations on political and security risk across Latin America.
He served in the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2003, specializing in communications and signals intelligence, and was decorated for actions in the Battle of Nasiriyah during the Iraq War. He went on to support U.S. State Department programs in Afghanistan — surviving a 2004 Taliban bombing of his workplace in Kabul that killed seven people — before a decade of global security consulting for U.S. government programs and private-sector partners.
In 2020, Matthew was arrested and wrongfully detained by Venezuelan authorities on charges the U.S. State Department called specious. His case was raised publicly by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Senators Bill Hagerty and Ted Cruz; in October 2022, after 752 days, he was released in a prisoner exchange announced in a statement by President Biden. Few advisors in this field have seen it from the inside: Matthew has been the subject of a hostile-state detention and the two-year diplomatic negotiation that ended it.
He continues to advocate for Americans unjustly detained abroad, including through work with the nonprofit Hostage US.
His work is guided by integrity, clarity, and commitment.
Media & Speaking
Available for commentary on Venezuela, wrongful detention and hostage diplomacy, and Latin American security.
Media inquiries: email directly with outlet, topic, and deadline. Deadline requests are prioritized.
Short bio (for producers & editors)
Matthew John Heath is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Latin America risk advisor. A signals-intelligence Marine decorated in the Battle of Nasiriyah, he later supported U.S. State Department programs in Afghanistan and spent a decade in global security consulting. In 2020 he was wrongfully detained by Venezuela on charges the U.S. State Department called specious; he was released in October 2022, after 752 days, in a prisoner exchange announced by President Biden. He now advises companies and family offices on political risk, detention preparedness, and crisis response, and advocates for Americans detained abroad.
Contact
Consulting inquiries are reviewed personally and held in strict confidence. For media, email directly.