The U.S. State Department had earlier warned U.S. citizens in Venezuela to leave immediately, saying in part that there were "of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizenship or support for the United States."

Almost immediately after U.S. forces deposed Venezuela’s president, officials from Washington to Lima, Peru, began encouraging some of the 8 million Venezuelans who have scattered themselves across th...

For years, political detainees and their families avoided discussing the news during the brief weekly visits, strictly monitored by armed guards.