U.S. urges travelers to Venezuela: "Prepare a will"

Driving the news: The State Department in an updated advisory to U.S. travelers on Monday, saying: "If you decide to travel to Venezuela ... Prepare a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney."

• U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents in Venezuela were "strongly advised to depart immediately" and told that any contingency plans for travel to or from the country should not rely on U.S. government assistance.
• "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," the advisory states.

Context: The travel advisory comes after tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants have fled to the United States after years of political and economic turmoil in the South American country, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

• It also follows years of diplomatic tensions across multiple administrations in the U.S. and questionable elections in Venezuela, Contreras said.

Zoom out: The U.S. has issued a number of travel warnings to other Latin American countries, too.

• The U.S. State Department issued in 2023 "do not travel" alerts in place for six Mexican states, "reconsider travel" recommendations for six others and "exercise increased caution" advisories for a further 17 states.

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