US Citizens: Cancel Your Travel Plans (Not that you likely had any)
This in from the US Embassy in Caracas:
U.S. citizens should plan to apply for a visa three months in advance of travel. U.S. citizens should expect to pay $30 for a one-year, multiple-entry visa good for a 90 day stay in Venezuela.
All U.S. citizens planning travel to Venezuela must have a tourist visa. The U.S. Embassy in Caracas is aware that airlines have refused to board U.S. citizens who do not possess a Venezuelan tourist visa. The Embassy strongly urges all U.S. citizens planning travel to Venezuela to check both the Venezuelan Embassy’s English and Spanish webpages regularly for the most up to date information about visa application requirements and procedures. U.S. citizens should direct questions to the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC or Venezuelan Consulates currently located in Boston, New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, San Francisco, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Our friend Van has a friend in the States coming for Spring Break. Since the tickets have already been purchased, they are hoping that they can get the visa in time. Apparently the paperwork requirement is mountainous. The hope is that there isn’t much demand in the DC office and that the bureaucracy there is faster than the bureaucracy here.
Anyone else planning on coming? Start the process early. Or simply forget about it.
Or third option [thanks to Kris and Zareen for the image] do it like these folks!
Fino Cambur 
Wish I could load a photo here. I’m going to send you Zareen’s gif of the first boatload of Americans trying to illegally enter Venezuela. Awesome!