Veteran U.S. diplomat John M. Barrett arrived in Caracas on Thursday to serve as the new head of the American embassy in Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan towards restoring democracy in the South American country.
Barrett, a career member of the State Department’s Senior Foreign Service, was appointed as the new chargé d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Caracas this month, succeeding Laura Dogu, who temporarily served as the top U.S. Diplomat in Caracas and oversaw the reopening of the American embassy, which remained shut down for seven years after now-deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro unliterally cut off all of Venezuela’s diplomatic ties with the U.S. in early 2019.
Following Maduro’s arrest on January 3 in a U.S. law enforcement operation in Caracas authorized by President Trump, the U.S. government outlined a three-phase plan — stabilization, recovery, and transition — towards restoring democracy in Venezuela, a nation historically friendly to the United States, with “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, who presently leads the nation’s socialist regime, actively collaborating with the U.S. following Maduro’s downfall.
“The relationship between the United States and Venezuela will shape the future of our hemisphere. My name is John Barrett, and I have just arrived in Venezuela to serve as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas,” Barrett in a video introducing himself and published by the U.S. embassy through social media.
“President Trump and Secretary Rubio have a clear vision for the prosperity of our region, and I am here to continue implementing their three-phase plan for Venezuela. We remain committed to Venezuela,” he continued.
According to the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Barrett was received by Oliver Blanco, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and North America, who met with Barrett and expressed a willingness to maintain channels of cooperation. Blanco reportedly met with Barrett upon his arrival and welcomed the U.S. diplomat on behalf of Rodríguez.
Rodríguez referred to Barrett’s arrival during an official regime event on Thursday night and, welcoming him, said that she hoped to continue an agenda “based on respect” between both countries. She availed herself of the opportunity once again to call for an end of all U.S. sanctions on the Venezuelan socialist regime and the end of the alleged “blockade” on Venezuela — a claim repeated by the ruling regime for over a decade.
“We welcome him, and it [the agenda] must be one of cooperation that is a win-win for both countries. We have made progress, but there is still a long way to go — not a single sanction should remain in place in Venezuela,” Rodríguez said.
After the U.S. and Venezuela restored diplomatic ties following Maduro’s capture, several high-ranking U.S. government officials traveled to Caracas to meet with Rodríguez, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Kyle Haustveit, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO).
The visits have led to the Venezuelan socialists enacting notable reforms to the nation’s notoriously restrictive hydrocarbons and mining laws, seeking to attract foreign investment into the sectors — particularly, from the United States, after decades’ worth of socialist mismanagement left the nation’s oil and mining infrastructure in a derelict, partially working state.
Last week, Chevron signed an asset swap deal with the Venezuelan authorities that expanded the American company’s presence at the Orinoco Belt, a region in Venezuela where the world’s largest accumulation of heavy crude oil is located.
On April 16, Rodríguez, during the signing ceremony of the new Venezuelan Mining Law, publicly thanked President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the “goodwill” in restoring bilateral ties between the United States and Venezuela. The “acting president” also thanked Trump and Rubio for their efforts towards restoring Venezuela’s ties with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an institution that the rogue socialist regime was highly antagonistic towards during the rule of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.
On that same day, Michael Kozak, senior bureau official in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, told Congress during a Western Hemisphere Subcommittee hearing that the first phase of President Trump’s three-phase plan is “done,” and explained that the second phase will see the recovery of the Venezuelan economy and a “political reconciliation.” Kozak pointed out that the United States has a “very significant” control of Venezuela’s oil revenue and that it can use it as leverage to achieve its goals to restore democracy in the country.
The U.S. State Department detailed that, before serving as the top U.S. diplomat in Caracas, Barrett served as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala after having served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Panama from 2023 to 2025 in addition to other past diplomatic positions such as Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Peru, and as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Recife.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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