The US State Department said on Monday it was reopening the US embassy in Venezuela, nearly three months after former President Nicolas Maduro was taken out of the country and imprisoned in the US. The move was hailed as a significant step in relations between the two countries.
The reopening of the embassy comes at a time when the administration Donald Trump begins to cooperate closely with the government Delsi Rodriguez, the acting president who replaced Maduro after his violent overthrow by US troops. Rodriguez previously served as vice president in Maduro's administration.
The US Embassy in Venezuela has been closed since March 2019. Decades of rising tensions between the two countries led to a complete break in diplomatic relations, and the US has not had an ambassador in Caracas since 2010.
In 2018, Maduro expelled the U.S. charge d'affaires in Venezuela, and the U.S. government withdrew all its diplomatic staff from the country the following year. Since then, U.S. relations with Venezuela have been conducted through the embassy in neighboring Colombia, including routine duties such as conducting investigations for U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Following the US military intervention in Venezuela and the removal of Maduro and his wife, Washington has been working to re-establish ties with the country's authorities. A State Department official announced: "Today we are officially reopening the US Embassy in Caracas, opening a new chapter in our diplomatic presence in Venezuela."
U.S. authorities accuse Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials of involvement in drug trafficking and providing protection to other Latin American criminal groups. The Delta Force raid that arrested Maduro earlier this year on federal charges was strongly condemned by many countries.
Maduro and his wife are currently in federal prison in New York awaiting trial. In the meantime, Laura F. Dogu, A longtime American diplomat and intelligence official who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua, she is based in Caracas and working on the renovation of the U.S. embassy. She currently serves as the U.S. charge d'affaires in Venezuela.
The State Department stated: "Laura F. Dogu's team is renovating the office building at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas to allow for the full return of staff and the eventual resumption of consular services as soon as possible."
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