The U.S. government issued the highest level travel warning on Friday (January 9), urging all American citizens to “immediately leave” Venezuela, citing the highly volatile and unpredictable security situation in the country.
The U.S. State Department posted an announcement on the social platform X, stating that despite the resumption of international flights, the internal security risks remain extremely high, and the U.S. is currently unable to provide any form of emergency consular assistance to local American citizens.
This warning came after the recent U.S. military raid in Caracas. On January 3, the U.S. military carried out a nighttime operation in the Venezuelan capital under the codename “Operation Absolute Resolve”, successfully arresting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. The two were later extradited to the U.S. for trial and pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including “drug terrorism” and other serious crimes in a federal court in New York.
The State Department pointed out that there are pro-government armed militia groups called “colectivos” setting up roadblocks in Venezuela, stopping vehicles, and searching for signs of holding American citizenship or supporting the U.S. The U.S. urged American citizens still in the country to closely monitor flight information, depart as soon as possible, establish multiple channels of external communication, and devise emergency contingency plans.
As the U.S. government urgently requested its citizens to evacuate Venezuela, the streets of the capital, Caracas, are on high alert with increased security checkpoints. Reports from local residents described a tense and fearful atmosphere in Venezuelan society following the arrest of Maduro.
A public bus driver in his 40s in Caracas stated to the media that there are checkpoints set up approximately every kilometer in the city center. On January 8, a bus he was driving was stopped by police during the journey, officers boarded to check the driver’s identification and scrutinized passengers one by one, eventually removing a passenger from the bus on grounds of being “suspicious” without providing a clear explanation.
Following the U.S. military operation, the Venezuelan government has strengthened its security agencies and warned of cracking down on activities collaborating with “foreign forces”. In addition to official security forces, armed militias supporting Maduro’s regime, known as “colectivos”, have been frequently spotted on the streets. These armed individuals often masked and armed, randomly stop pedestrians to check their phones and search for any communication contents supporting the U.S. or opposing the government.
The U.S. currently maintains Venezuela at the highest travel warning level of “Level 4: Do Not Travel”. The State Department emphasized the extreme risks faced by American citizens in Venezuela, including arbitrary detention, torture during imprisonment, terror activities, kidnappings, serious crimes, social unrest, and weak medical and public health systems.
In fact, since 2019, the U.S. has issued warnings to its citizens to avoid traveling to Venezuela and evacuated all diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Caracas in March of the same year, leaving the embassy closed to date.
Shortly before this travel warning was issued, both the U.S. and Venezuela confirmed that they were in preliminary talks to restore diplomatic relations. A U.S. delegation has already traveled to Venezuela to assess the feasibility of reopening the embassy in Caracas.
Since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, Washington has significantly escalated its efforts against the socialist government in Venezuela and transnational drug cartels. In the “Southern Spear Operation” initiated in September, the U.S. military conducted dozens of strikes against drug trafficking vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean seas.
On the economic front, the U.S. simultaneously expanded sanctions on Venezuela’s energy industry. Trump recently ordered sanctions on oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, and on January 10, American forces seized a tanker in the Caribbean suspected of violating sanction regulations.
Shortly after Maduro’s arrest, Trump announced that the U.S. would receive around 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil, and the proceeds would be used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States under his supervision. He directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to push for the necessary arrangements and indicated the encouragement of American energy companies to invest in Venezuelan oil infrastructure to assist in the recovery of production capacity.