Canadian tourists voice concerns over Caribbean travel after U.S. strike on Venezuela

People call them the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

All three are located in the southern Caribbean's leeward Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela. All three are popular tourist destinations, known for their sandy beaches and rich cultures.

But now — days after the U.S. hit Venezuela with what it described as a "large-scale strike" and captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores — the ABC islands have something else in common: trepidation among some travellers.

On Saturday, several hours after U.S. Special Forces swooped into Caracas by helicopter, shattered Maduro's security cordon and dragged him from the threshold of a safe room, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) issued a travel advisory warning Canadians to avoid all travel to Venezuela.

GAC didn't extend its warning to Caribbean islands.

But Air Canada issued its own travel advisory on Saturday for Venezuela and surrounding regions, noting it would allow people to change their itineraries for flights into 17 different airports up to Jan. 6. These include airports in Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, Saint Lucia and the Dominican Republic.