The Department of State has issued a Non Essential US Personnel evacuation order and travel warning for Venezuela in advance of this weekend’s elections.
A new Travel Warning is available for Venezuela.https://t.co/DUSX2Lesqc
— US Embassy, VE (@usembassyve) July 28, 2017
Venezuela Travel WarningLAST UPDATED: JULY 27, 2017The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens against travel to Venezuela due to social unrest, violent crime, and pervasive food and medicine shortages. This travel warning also informs U.S. citizens that on July 27, the Department ordered the departure of family members and authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. government employees from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
All U.S. direct-hire personnel and their families assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas are subject to an embassy movement policy that limits their travel within Caracas and many parts of the country. Inter-city travel by car during hours of darkness (6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) is strongly discouraged and in some cases may be prohibited. U.S. government personnel must also request approval for travel outside of Caracas. These security measures may limit the U.S. Embassy’s ability to provide services. This replaces the Travel Warning issued December 15, 2016.
The political and security situation in Venezuela is unpredictable and can change quickly. Since April 2017, political rallies and demonstrations occur daily throughout the country, often with little notice. Disruptions to traffic and public transportation are common. Demonstrations typically elicit a strong police and security force response that includes the use of tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons and rubber bullets against participants, and occasionally devolve into looting and vandalism. Armed motorcycle gangs associated with the government frequently use violence to intimidate demonstrators. Clashes between these groups have resulted in serious injuries and over 70 deaths. U.S. citizens have reported being arrested, detained, and robbed while in close proximity to protests.
Security forces have arrested individuals, including U.S. citizens, and detained them for long periods with little or no evidence of a crime. The U.S. Embassy may not be notified of the detention of a U.S. citizen and consular access to detainees may be denied or severely delayed. The detained citizen may be denied access to proper medical care, clean water, and food.
Violence and criminal activity – including homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, and carjacking – pose significant and continuing security concerns. Indiscriminate violent crime is endemic throughout the country and can occur anywhere at any time. There are reports of authorities (e.g., police, airport, immigration) and criminals posing as authorities participating in robbery and extortion. Drug traffickers and illegal armed groups are active in the Colombian border states of Zulia, Tachira, and Apure.
The Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Maiquetía, is located in an extremely high-risk area for armed robbery and kidnappings. Do not take unregulated taxis from this airport and avoid ATMs in this area. Travel between the Simón Bolívar International Airport and Caracas only during daylight hours, as armed bandits frequently target night-time motorists along this route.
Due to shortages of medicine and medical supplies, U.S. citizens should be prepared to cover their own needs for over-the-counter and prescription medicines while in country. You should have medical evacuation plans in place that do not rely solely on U.S. government assistance. Comprehensive medical evacuation insurance is strongly advised for all travelers.
U.S. citizens may also be detained and/or deported by Venezuelan immigration officials for not complying with visa or immigration regulations. U.S. citizens traveling to Venezuela must have a valid visa that is appropriate for their specific type of travel (journalism, employment, study, etc.) or risk being detained or deported. Journalists must possess the appropriate accreditation and work visa from the Venezuelan authorities before arriving. International journalists are closely scrutinized and have been expelled and/or detained for lacking appropriate permissions to work in Venezuela or for participation in what could be seen as anti-government activity, including observing and reporting on public health facilities.
For further information:
- See the State Department’s travel website for the Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Venezuela Specific Information.
- Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security messages and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
- Contact the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, located at Calle F con Calle Suapure, Lomas de Valle Arriba, Caracas at +[58] 212-975-6411, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The after-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is +[58] 0212-907-8400 or, or 0212-907-8400 from within Venezuela.
- To reach the Department of State’s Overseas Citizen Services, call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
At this time this is not a Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) as the US military is not involved in evacuating personnel. Let’s hope we don’t get to that point.
For more information on what Noncombatant Evacuation Operation is and what it entails, here’s a link to Joint Publication (JP) 3-68: Noncombatant Evacuation Operations.
Ian G.
A sad exception to Latin America’s slow but steady march towards more democratic accountability and the rule of law (witness all the lawmakers being marched to prison for corruption across Brazil, Argentina, Peru, etc). I just hope this ends without civil war.
It’s also a sharp reminder of what we MUST NOT allow Trumpism to do to this country.
Uncle Omar
Good to know that here is someone at State monitoring this situation and savvy enough to issue the order. I half expect a tweet tomorrow morning from the White House reversing this order.
zhena gogolia
@Uncle Omar:
I half expect an order like this being issued about us in a year’s time or so.
Steve in the ATL
One of my cousins is married to a woman from Venezuela. She is horrified by what’s going on there and fearful for her relatives who remain there.
As horrified and fearful as one can be in their 7500 square foot mansion in Santa Monica.
Adam L Silverman
@Uncle Omar: This will have been issued by the Diplomatic Security Office in conjunction with the Latin American Desk. Of course the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security did resign yesterday…
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: They have a panic room in case things get out of hand, right?
hellslittlestangel
@Ian G.: Trump does kind of come off as a charmless Hugo Chavez.
debbie
I heard Madura gave a speech bad-mouthing the U.S. recently and was hoping he wasn’t using Trump-style distraction.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: it’s more of a panic suite
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: Sacrifices some time have to be made.
Geoduck
@hellslittlestangel: Except that Chavez at least tried to help make his supporters’ lives better.
Omnes Omnibus
@hellslittlestangel: I know someone who can testify that Chavez was a leering breast man.
Steve in the ATL
@Geoduck: he also grifted the national treasury in a way the trump hasn’t figured out yet
Zelma
I have “family” connections in Caracas and have followed the situation there closely. There is no doubt that the pre-chavez government was incompetent, corrupt and uninterested in the well-being of most of the Venezuelan people. I know of some unlikely people who supported Chavez because they believed the existing ruling class had to go. (Those people are currently in exile in Spain.) And Chavez did at some level share the country’s wealth more widely. But Chavismo moved very quickly towards destroying any independent institutions and in the process destroyed the economy. Chavez’ model was Castro and I think it was the growing influence of the Cubans that alienated the middle class more than anything. At least that’s what I felt from my connections. The situation there is dire and, with one exception, most of them have managed to get out, some just recently. I just hope they can stay out. Does anyone know if the US government will force Venezuelans who are here on visas to go back to that mad house?
Mike in NC
I can remember when the Pentagon treated Venezuela like the new North Korea, an existential threat with missiles. It was a fucking joke but part of annual training exercises at USJFCOM.
Miss Bianca
@Steve in the ATL: Ha!
@Zelma: I remember hoping when Chavez came in that his regime would actually do some real, lasting good for Venezuela. (It was around that time that I was considering going to the country for a Rotary-sponsored Spanish immersion course). I think that watching what happened down there cured me forever of any tendency to think that hard leftists getting into government might somehow *not* become just as authoritarian as hard rightists.
Zelma
I think the turning point was when Chavez took over the administration of the oil company. He sent in people who were party loyalists and had no knowledge of the petroleum business. There was a huge strike, not necessarily the workers but the management and the engineers and the like. They were all fired. The company has never recovered the expertise it lost and was ill equipped to face the declining oil prices. It’s infrastructure is a disaster and it can’t pump the oil it has. All those petroleum engineers are now working for the competition.
Cheryl Rofer
A sad reminder that the rest of the world continues while our Neros fiddle.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
We all wish it didn’t seem like a mirror to our country’s future.
IntheKnow
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, technically DS works in conjunction with the Under Secretary for Management, the regional bureaus and NSC, while keeping S involved, to determine if it’s time to move people out or not.