State Department warns US citizens to leave Venezuela

Venezuela’s liberal party is calling for the release of all political prisoners in the country, according to a statement released Tuesday morning.

“The time has come to restore the truth and ensure that justice prevails over impunity,” the statement from Vente Venezuela’s Human Rights Committee said.

Vente Venezuela is also Nobel Peace prize winner Maria Corina Machado’s political party. Machado reposted the statement shortly after it’s release.

-ABC News' Othon Leyva

Colombia’s Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio said she will be meeting with John McNamara, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Colombia, to directly address the threats and allegations made against the Colombian President Gustavo Petro by U.S. President Donald Trump this week.

“Our president is the democratically elected president. The president is legitimate, and the leader of the security forces of the state,” Villavicencio said.

Colombia will support a resolution in the United Nations Security Council in the coming days that condemns the actions of the Trump administration in Venezuela, Villavicencio said.

The Colombian Foreign Minister pledged to utilize and coordinate through the CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States which is a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states, to condemn the U.S. actions in Venezuela.

Villavicencio said the Colombian Embassy maintains direct communication with the State Department regarding the situation in Venezuela. Villavicencio maintains that they continue to have dialogue with the U.S.

-ABC News' Ismario Rodriguez Perez and Othon Leyva

The raid in Venezuela to arrest Nicolas Maduro was a "law enforcement operation" and "well within the President's article two powers," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an interview with Sean Hannity.

Bondi's comments come as President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is going to run the country.

Trump on Sunday night doubled down on his assertion that the U.S. was "in charge" of the South American nation, after first proclaiming on Saturday the U.S. would "run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition."

Bondi said the operation was "flawless" and that Maduro and his wife are charged with "directing the murders, kidnappings, assaults of anyone who stood in their way and also anyone who tried to stop their drug business. They are also charged with bringing tons of drugs into this country. "

-ABC News' Luke Barr

A new head of security for Venezuela’s executive branch has been appointed by Delcy Rodriguez, the new interim president of Venezuela, through a decree published Tuesday, according to state-run media.

Gustavo Enrique Gonzalez Lopez is the new commander of the Presidential Honor Guard charged with protecting the national executive, according to multiple reports.

Gonzalez Lopez was previously the director general of Venezuela’s Intelligence Service and is under sanction in several countries including the U.S., according to the Treasure Department's sanctions list.

He replaces Major General Javier José Marcano Tábata, who took office in October 2024, according to state-run media.

-ABC News' Ismario Rodriguez Perez