The administration of President Donald Trump notified Congress it is taking the first steps towards a possible reopening of the U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the downfall of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The Associated Press (AP) reports it obtained a copy of a State Department notice sent to Congressmen this week informing that it was sending in “a regular and growing contingent of temporary staffers to conduct ‘select’ diplomatic functions.”
“We are writing to notify the committee of the Department of State’s intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume Embassy Caracas operations,” the State Department reportedly said in separate but identical letters to 10 House and Senate committees.
The United States has not had a diplomatic presence in Venezuela for the past seven years after the U.S. shut down its embassy in Caracas on early 2019 at a time when Nicolás Maduro had Venezuela cut ties with America during that year’s political crisis. All remaining embassy personnel left the country by March 2019 when the already complicated situation in the country further deteriorated as a result of a multi-day long nationwide blackout.
Since then, all consular services once provided by the embassy in Caracas have been handled the Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU) at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, the nearest U.S. embassy to the shut down one in Caracas.
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AP reported the notification was sent just two days before Secretary of State is due to testify on Venezuela before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to the notification’s text, staffers “would live and work in a temporary facility while the existing embassy compound is brought up to standard.”
Reports published earlier this month indicated that the United States was undertaking the “necessary preparations” for a prospective reopening of its embassy in Caracas should president Trump decide to do so. Last week, the United States appointed Ambassador Laura Dogu as the new Chargé d’Affaires to the VAU in Bogotá.
“The Trump Administration continues to work with the interim authorities to stabilize Venezuela as part of the three-phase plan Secretary Rubio laid out for Congress and the American people,” a senior State Department official told Reuters at the time.
“This plan requires a full-time Chargé d’Affaires at the Venezuela Affairs Unit, located at the United States Embassy in Bogota. Ambassador Dogu is … well-positioned to lead the team during this transition period,” the official continued.
File/ The U.S. flag flies at the United States Embassy Headquarters in Caracas, 05 February 2006. (ANDREW ALVAREZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Bloomberg and The New York Times reported earlier this month that the Venezuelan socialist regime sent its current Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Kingdom Félix Plasencia to Washington to meet with U.S. officials. Plascencia, a career diplomat, is widely describes as a “close confidant” of Delcy Rodríguez, the “acting President” of the country.
The Times, said at the time that it was unclear which U.S. officials would receive Plasencia but, citing unnamed sources, indicated that the “official reason” for his trip involved the process of reopening the Venezuelan embassy in D.C., which also remains shut down since 2019.
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