Log on to the website for the U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, and the phrase immediately pops up: “The embassy is only providing emergency services for U.S. citizens . . . ”
Due to the crisis in Venezuela with the Maduro government, most American staff have been withdrawn from the embassy, removing employees and their families from harm’s way.
The possibility of a mission draw down or evacuation is one of the facts of diplomatic life. My two evacuations were easier for me than for some. Both were due to terrorism dangers, but my children were grown and unaffected. My husband’s job wasn’t dependent on where we were living. Within a few weeks, I was assigned to another post.
By contrast, the evacuation within seven days of sixty diplomats and their families from the U.S. embassy in Moscow last year was not due to terrorism, but nevertheless involved many people suddenly pulled out of planned lives. The United States and Russia both ordered large numbers of diplomats from their respective countries over U.S. sanctions against Russia.
Household goods packed out, health and school certificates issued, keys and radios turned in, rabies shots confirmed for pets, and seats on charter flights arranged were only some of the tasks. Children and teenagers had to deal with leaving school terms only eleven weeks before they were to end.
On arrival in Washington, they were met with balloons, welcome home signs, and hugs from former colleagues. Jet-lagged toddlers fell asleep on the floor as their parents attended information meetings.
Evacuated officers began searching for forward assignments. Other families left officers behind who continued to work in Moscow.
Yet as one embassy member wrote: “There is no pretense in the courage of its members, playing the hand they have been dealt with dignity and grace.”
The remaining staff in Moscow stepped up “determined to keep the embassy not just functioning, but moving forward.”
Some who left said it would have been easier “if they had hated Moscow. The truth is,” the article writer said, “we who live here love the city. That is also one of the strengths of the mission. We are moving forward. That is what we do.” (Anne Godfrey, wife of the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2018, “When the Going Gets Tough: Moscow”).