New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday issued a strong advisory urging Indians to stay away from all non-essential travel to Venezuela following multiple US military strikes on the South American nation.
The MEA also released emergency contact details to assist Indian nationals caught in the escalating crisis. Citizens can reach out via email at cons.caracas@mea.gov.in or call the emergency helpline at +58-412-9584288, which also supports WhatsApp calls.
The advisory came hours after President Donald Trump announced that American forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife during a military operation conducted early Saturday morning. The operation followed weeks of mounting pressure from the Trump administration on the Maduro regime.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump outlined America’s plans for Venezuela’s political future. “We’ll be involved in it very much,” he stated, emphasizing that the US cannot risk allowing “somebody else run and just take over what he left”.
Later, addressing reporters, Trump declared that the US would administer the country temporarily. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said.
The American president hailed the military raid as “one of the most stunning attacks and effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.” He asserted that no other nation possessed the capability to execute such an operation, especially within the compressed timeline involved.
“No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday,” Trump proclaimed, further claiming that Venezuelan military infrastructure had been entirely disabled.