Alva Review-Courier -

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Texas Republican congressman Pete Sessions quietly visited Venezuela this week and met with President Nicolas Maduro at the invitation of the socialist government in a peacebuilding mission that has raised some eyebrows in Washington.

It's not clear what prompted the previously undisclosed visit by the Dallas congressman to the politically turbulent South American nation.

Caroline Booth, a spokeswoman for the congressman, said it was related to work Sessions has done over the past year as an intermediary to resolve issues in Venezuela, but she declined to elaborate. She...