- News
U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu has arrived in Caracas to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties
Via AP news wire Saturday 31 January 2026 22:35 GMT- Bookmark
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks
Close popover
Venezuela Anniversary (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Email*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu arrived in Caracas on Saturday to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties.
The move comes almost one month after a military action ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump removed the South American country's then-leader Nicolás Maduro from office.
“My team and I are ready to work,” Dogu said in a message posted by the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela 's account on X. It also posted pictures of her upon her landing at Maiquetia airport.
Venezuela and the United States broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019 in a decision by Maduro and closed their embassies mutually after Trump gave public support to lawmaker Juan Guaidó in his claim to be the nation’s interim president in January of that year.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela's most powerful politicians and a Maduro loyalist, said earlier in January that reopening the U.S. embassy would give the Venezuelan government a way to oversee the treatment of the deposed president, who is jailed in the U.S.
Venezuela's foreign minister Yván Gil said in a message on Telegram that Dogu's arrival is part of a joint schedule to “deal with and resolve existing differences through diplomatic dialogue, in a foundation of mutual respect and (based on) international law.”
Dogu, who was also an ambassador in Nicaragua and Honduras, arrived in Venezuela one day after the country's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced an amnesty bill to release political prisoners. That move was one of the key demands of the Venezuelan opposition.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america