Overview
- The State Department said Monday it restarted operations at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, with Chargé Laura F. Dogu overseeing building repairs and no consular services yet available.
- Officials called the move a key step in the administration's three‑phase plan for Venezuela that enables direct contact with the interim government, community groups, and businesses.
- Venezuelan envoys Oliver Blanco and Félix Plasencia held talks in Washington to reinstall their mission and take back embassy and consular sites that the U.S. had safeguarded since 2023.
- People who need passports or visas must still use the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá because the consular section in Caracas remains under repair after mold remediation and other fixes.
- Relations broke in 2019 after the U.S. recognized Juan Guaidó and Venezuela expelled U.S. diplomats, and multiple outlets link the current thaw to the reported January 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.