MAIQUETIA, Venezuela (AP) — A shipment from the United States of medicine and medical supplies arrived in Venezuela on Friday, reflecting a new spirit of cooperation between the two countries following the stunning capture last month of then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Laura Dogu, the U.S. top diplomat in the South American country, and Venezuelan diplomat Félix Plasencia, received the shipment containing 6 metric tons of supply at the airport outside Venezuela's capital, Caracas.
“It’s very important to stabilize the health system here in Venezuela,” Dogu told reporters at the airport in Maiquetía. She added that the shipment was “the first of many donations” that will arrive “in the coming days.”
Venezuela's complex crisis, which began more than a decade ago, led to the collapse of the country's public health care system. Hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
Plasencia described the donation as a "message of cooperation among two sovereign countries.
"We’re doing the best for our people," he said.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Workers push pallets of medical supplies donated by the U.S. after its arrival at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Arraez)
Pallets of medical supplies donated by the United States are unloaded as U.S. charge d'affaires Laura Dogu, right and Venezuelan diplomat Felix Plasencia stand by at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Arraez)
U.S. charge d'affaires Laura Dogu, left and Venezuelan diplomat Felix Plasencia stand by the arrival of medical supplies donated from the United States at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Arraez)
An Arizona sheriff's department got more than 4,000 calls within 24 hours after the release of videos of a masked person on Nancy Guthrie's porch. Many tips will be worthless. Others could have merit. Experts say one thing's certain: They can't be ignored.
Tips can solve crimes — big or small — and eerie images of a mysterious male covered head to toe have been the most significant clues shared with the public during Guthrie's nearly 2-week-old disappearance in the Tucson area.
“It's a tremendous amount of work,” said Roberto Villaseñor, a former Tucson police chief.
“In a situation like this, you really cannot do what's been done without tips and public input,” he said. “They have processed the scene. But once that’s done and exhausted, it's hard to move forward without additional information coming in.”
The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced phone numbers and a website to offer tips about the apparent kidnapping of Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff's department said.
The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1, the day Guthrie was reported missing. The sheriff's department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.
"Every tip is reviewed for credibility, relevance, and information that can be acted upon by law enforcement," the FBI said Thursday on X, adding that the effort is a 24-hour operation. It said it won't comment on the tips received.
Major U.S. crimes for years have been cracked with a tip. In 1995, the brother and sister-in-law of Ted Kaczynski recognized certain tones in an anonymous, widely published anti-technology manifesto. Known by the FBI as the “Unabomber,” Kaczynski was found living in a shack in Montana and subsequently admitted to committing 16 bombings over 17 years, killing three people.
The 1989 murders of an Ohio woman and two teen daughters in Florida were solved three years later when St. Petersburg police asked the public if they recognized handwriting found in the victims' car. A former neighbor led investigators to Oba Chandler.
Retired Detroit homicide investigator Ira Todd recalled how images from a gas station camera solved the disappearance and death of a 3-month-old baby — and stopped authorities from pursuing the wrong person in 2001. “A niece of this guy saw it on TV and says, ‘That’s my uncle,’” he said.
The murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022 generated nearly 40,000 tips to state and federal authorities. None had a direct role in the capture of Bryan Kohberger, but the public's involvement nonetheless was “absolutely” important, said Lt. Darren Gilbertson of the Idaho State Police.
“That's one of the things that kept us going for weeks,” he said, while authorities awaited DNA and other evidence.
Gilbertson said much of the early vetting in the Idaho murders was done by the FBI. He said agents and analysts who were screening tips had a good grasp of what information could be spiked and what should be handed up to key investigators. Some tips arrived by regular mail.
“Aliens to bears to crazy conspiratorial ideas — don't even pass that along,” Gilbertson said.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Hours before her family knew she was gone, a porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves — images that were released by the FBI along with a public plea for help.
The FBI on Thursday said the person, now a suspect, is a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency also named the brand and model of the backpack.
Neighborhood resident Laura Gargano said she's tried to be helpful. She recommended that authorities look at an underground tank at Guthrie’s home, which was checked last weekend. She also told them that a rental house, not typical for the neighborhood, had recently been vacated.
“I noticed the cars were gone,” she told The Associated Press. “It could have been nothing, it could have been coincidental, but it was a change.”
The sheriff's department has not said whether any tips from the videos have advanced the investigation.
“I'm hopeful,” said Villaseñor, the former Tucson chief. “I have seen cases where simpler and less detailed information has helped bring somebody about. Maybe someone recognizes clothing, maybe the bag. You never know what someone will key on.”
Anyone with information: (800) 225-5324; (520) 351-4900; http://tips.fbi.gov
Associated Press writer Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed to this report.
An investigator looks inside a culvert in the neighborhood where Annie Guthrie, whose mother Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than a week, lives just outside Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
A small vigil grows near Nancy Guthrie's house, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
