FOREIGN POLICY/STATE/VENEZUELA: “The State Department on Thursday [7-27-17] ordered family members of American employees at the U.S. embassy in Caracas to leave Venezuela, days ahead of a contentious vote that Washington has warned could undermine the South American nation’s democracy.
The State Department said Thursday evening that it also will facilitate voluntary departures of American government employees from the U.S. mission in Caracas amid deepening instability.
The announcement, contained in a travel warning for the country, said that the State Department will be limiting movement of the employees who remain in Caracas and advises all Americans against traveling to the country due to ‘social unrest, violent crime and pervasive food and medicine shortages.’
The move comes a day after the Trump administration imposed sanctions against 13 Venezuelan officials for alleged corruption, human-rights violations and undermining the country’s democracy.
Venezuela faces a vote on Sunday to elect an assembly tasked with rewriting the country’s constitution. Venezuela’s opposition coalition is boycotting those efforts.
Following Sunday’s election, the assembly would become the country’s supreme political institution and would have the power to rewrite the constitution and dissolve the opposition-dominated congress.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “U.S. State Department Orders Families of Embassy Employees to Leave Venezuela,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 27, 2017 09:19pm