Make a will if you travel to Venezuela: US issues strange travel advisory

The US state department has issued a strange travel warning for those who want to visit Venezuela -- that they should prepare a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/ or power of attorney. Venezuela is a south American country bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The alert was already in place but the government reissued it recently, heightening the warning.

The advisory comes and the US and Venezuela are caught in a diplomatic tension. The US Treasury Department revoked Chevron's license to export Venezuelan oil, prompting Nicolás Maduro's government to suspend deportation flights on March 8. An agreement to restart repatriation flights carrying immigrants who were in the US illegally was reached later that same month.

The US has not had a functioning embassy in Caracas since March 2019, leaving Americans in Venezuela without consular support or evacuation options.

Venezuelans are also being deported in Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

What does the new advisory say?

The new advisory replaces an old one that was issued in 2024. Situation has worsened and now the new advisory says: "Do not travel to or remain in Venezuela due to the high risk of wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure."

"If you decide to travel to Venezuela...Prepare a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney."

The warning also advises against all forms of entry into Venezuela, including over land borders, and highlights additional safety risks like nighttime travel and the lack of medical care or pharmaceutical availability.

Travel advisories for several countries have been reissued by the US government in May. the State Department updated its travel advisory for the United Kingdom on May 8 to Level 2, citing terrorism risks and advising travelers to exercise "increased caution." Several other countries' travel advisories are at a higher risk level, and were updated to reflect changes to risk indicators, such as Myanmar, also called Burma, which has a "do not travel" warning "due to armed conflict" amongst other reasons.