Ambassador Laura Dogu has arrived in Caracas with diplomatic personnel to reopen the U.S. embassy in the Venezuelan capital after a seven year pause.
“I just arrived in Venezuela. My team and I are ready to work,” Dogu wrote on the embassy’s social media accounts upon arriving to Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía on Saturday.
RNV, the Venezuelan regime’s main state-owned radio station, reports that Dogu was welcomed by Foreign Minister Yván Gil who, on a social media post indicated that the American diplomat’s arrival is part of a working agenda between both countries “aimed at establishing a roadmap for work on matters of bilateral interest, as well as addressing and resolving existing differences through diplomatic dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect and international law.”
Dogu’s arrival comes roughly a month after U.S. forces carried out a law enforcement operation in Caracas to arrest socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. An unnamed State Department official told CNN that Dogu “will work with individuals from the private and public sector, as well as civic society, to advance the President and Secretary’s three-phased plan for Venezuela.”
Maduro had Venezuela cut off diplomatic ties with the United States in 2019. Since then, the U.S. has a special Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU) at its Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. Dogu is presently serving as the VAU’s Chargé d’Affaires after previously serving as Ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua, in addition to other diplomatic posts.
Last week, the Associated Press (AP) reported that the administration of President Donald Trump notified Congress that it is taking the first steps towards reopening the U.S. Embassy in Caracas after seven years. According to AP, the State Department informed through a notice sent to different House and Senate committees its intent to “implement a phased approach to potentially resume Embassy Caracas operations.”
New U.S Chargé d’Affaires in Venezuela, Laura Dogu arrives in Venezuela to reopen the diplomatic relation between nations suspended since 2019. Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in Caracas in the early hours of January 3 by US special forces. (Jesus Vargas/Getty)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during his hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations last week, told Congress that Dogu would “ultimately” lead from Caracas and that the U.S. would establish a diplomatic presence in Venezuela “very quickly.”
Over the past weeks since the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, President Trump has told reporters that the Venezuelan regime, now led by “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, would begin cooperating with the United States. Last week, the Department of the Treasury issued a new license granting U.S. oil companies expanded access to engage in a wide variety of activities related to sanctioned Venezuelan oil. President Trump detailed in January that U.S. companies will start drilling Venezuelan oil “very soon.”
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