Venezuela’s socialist regime on Monday rejected the U.S. State Department’s “extreme danger” travel advisory to U.S. citizens living or traveling to Venezuela, claiming it was a “cynical” and “racist” campaign against the rogue South American nation.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of State reissued a “Level 4: Do not Travel” advisory to U.S. citizens living in or traveling to Venezuela, urging them to avoid travelling and leave the South American country due to the high risk of wrongful detention, torture, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, and other dangers.
The United States shut down its embassy in Caracas in early 2019 after socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro cut ties with the United States and, as such, the U.S. government cannot provide consular services or emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Venezuela.
“Anyone with U.S. citizenship or any other U.S. residency status in Venezuela should leave the country immediately, including those traveling on Venezuelan or other foreign passports,” the State Department said, and stressed, “do not travel to Venezuela for any reason.”
The Maduro regime responded to the travel advisory through an official Foreign Ministry statement branding the warning as a “hostile act loaded with cynicism, racism and political propaganda, which seeks to feed the permanent campaign of aggression against our country.”
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry claimed that the United States, while allegedly trying to “discredit Venezuela with unfounded accusations,” is instead “kidnapping, imprisoning, and disappearing migrants, even children,” and listed the case of Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal, a two-year-old Venezuelan child who the Maduro regime accuses the United States of “kidnapping.”
The Maduro regime, without presenting evidence to substantiate its accusations, claimed that the “objective” of the alleged “kidnapping” is to use the child as a “political hostage in favor of the Venezuelan ultra-right.”
“The United States lacks the moral authority to speak of human rights. Images of children in cages, mothers separated from their children, arbitrary deportations and detention centers reminiscent of concentration camps continue to shake the world,” the statement read. “Added to this are racist laws, police brutality and crimes against Venezuelan workers, such as those kidnapped in El Salvador, subjected to inhumane treatment.”
In reality, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) placed the two-year-old under foster care in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after DHS found evidence that her parents — Venezuelan nationals Maiker Espinoza-Escalona and Yorely Escarleth Bernal Inciarte — were both members of the Tren de Aragua foreign terrorist organization and were involved in numerous criminal activities such as kidnappings, extortion, and sex trafficking. Both parents, now deported from the United States, had illegally entered the U.S. and had final orders of removal issued by a judge.
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“This alert does not seek to protect anyone: it is a tool of psychological warfare and disinformation, part of the interventionist script of Washington and its local lackeys,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry claimed. “Venezuela is a country of peace. Those who wish to visit us with respect and a spirit of brotherhood will always find the doors of a dignified, sovereign and revolutionary people open.”
The Maduro regime has an extensive track record of unjustly detaining American nationals and other foreign citizens, often accusing them of being part of dubious and unproved “plots” against Maduro and his socialist rule. In January, Richard Grenell, President Trump’s Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, travelled to Caracas and successfully negotiated the release of a group of six unjustly detained American nationals. Grenell said in February that at least six other Americans remain unjustly detained in Venezuela.
Other notable cases of unjustly detained foreigners include Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo, who was detained in December after he traveled to Venezuela to meet with his family. The Maduro regime claimed in January that it has detained some 120 foreign nationals from roughly 25 countries under dubious and unproven “mercenary” accusations.
“The Department has determined there is a very high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals in Venezuela. Security forces have detained U.S. citizens for up to five years without respect for due process,” the State Department said on Monday. “The U.S. government is not generally informed of the detention of U.S. citizens in Venezuela nor is it permitted to visit U.S. national detainees in Venezuela.”
The State Department provided a thorough list of recommendations to U.S. citizens should they decide to travel to Venezuela despite the warning espoused in the travel advisory. The list included suggestions such as preparing a will and designating appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney, establishing communication plans with families or employers with “proof of life” protocols, and hiring professional security organizations — stressing that “any contingency plans for travel to or from Venezuela should not rely on U.S. government assistance.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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