Right now, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appears to be trying to go tit-for-tat with President Donald Trump.
Trump has been putting pressure on Venezuela with strikes against alleged drug boats as well as pressuring Maduro to step down from power.
Maduro’s answer appears to be to continue to arrest Americans and hold them as prisoners, a move that is, I would imagine, designed to serve as a bargaining chip with Trump.
There were first reports on this situation right after Trump took office, as several Americans were arrested, allegedly for working as part of a mercenary group.
It happened again in August, as Maduro once more claimed that those arrested were part of a mercenary group, this time, one that was trying to stop him from being sworn in as president. He made a rather ominous statement that many took to imply that the men were being tortured, stating, "I am sure that in the next few hours they will confess.”
Then, after Trump announced that he had greenlit a CIA ground operation in October, Maduro announced that he had arrested more mercenaries “with direct information” about CIA operations.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) responded, “If I was Maduro, I'd head to Russia or China right now.”
The New York Times is now reporting that Maduro has at least five Americans in custody at present.
While the details of the arrests are not fully known, we do know the Trump administration is already considering at least two of these individuals to have been “wrongfully detained.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded, "Our commitment to the American people is clear: We will safeguard the well-being of U.S. nationals both at home and abroad and not rest until all Americans being held hostage or unjustly detained around the world are brought home.”
Sadly, Americans abroad are becoming regular targets, a fact that brings us to our next alert.
With all of the tensions that exist between the United States and our rivals, as well as external tensions related to allied conflicts, these are dangerous times for Americans to be traveling abroad.
To that point, the State Department has now issued a “do not travel” advisory for Russia, citing terrorist attacks and the "arbitrary enforcement of local laws” that have led to wrongful detentions.
The advisory stated, "U.S. citizens in Russia should leave immediately. Russian officials often question and threaten U.S. citizens without reason."
If I were advising anyone on travel right now, I would tell them to keep it domestic or to travel only to locations of true allies and avoid even going through countries that currently have issues with the United States. In this day and age, you just never know if officials in those countries might dare pull an American off of an airplane or out of an airport lounge simply for use as a bargaining chip in these conflicts.
