Originally Posted by
polonius
Hmm, well Venezuela is just one of the many countries I visited on my travels before I turned 18. Went by boat to La Guaira, up to Caracas, then on to Merída and into the Andes. Never had the issue of my age come up, there or anywhere else.
It comes up in Costa Rica, Mexico and many others. There are several threads in the Travel with Children forum about it and the state department website will tell you which countries this is an issue in. One parent with a child will generally not be allowed to board a plane in the US bound for Mexico without a notarized letter from the other parent, for example. And in Costa Rica an adult can generally not take a child out of the country without being able to prove that child is theirs for fear of child trafficking.
Your experiences may have had to do with not arriving in Venezuela directly from the US or not being with an adult or any number of other things.
This is a bit of a different issue than a minor traveling solo.