US envoy arrives in Venezuela to reopen mission after seven years

Laura Dogu’s visit comes as Venezuela moves to privatise its oil sector under pressure from Trump.Published On 1 Feb 2026The top United States envoy for Venezuela has arrived in Caracas to reopen a US diplomatic mission seven years after ties were severed.Laura Dogu announced her arrival in a post on X on Saturday, saying, “My team and I are ready to work.”Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4What’s next for Venezuela?list 2 of 4Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez announces prisoner amnestylist 3 of 4‘Fascist, criminal’: Cuba slams Trump bid to ‘suffocate’ island’s economylist 4 of 4How much control will the US have over Venezuela’s oil?end of listThe move comes almost one month after US forces abducted Venezuela’s then-president, Nicolas Maduro, from the presidential palace in Caracas, on the orders of US President Donald Trump.Maduro was then taken to a prison in New York, and is facing drug trafficking and narcoterrorism conspiracy charges.The move has been widely criticised as a violation of international law.Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil wrote on Telegram that he had received Dogu, and that talks would centre on creating a “roadmap 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, who previously served as US ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua, was appointed to the role of charge d’affaires to the Venezuela Affairs Unit, based out of the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.Venezuela and the US broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019, in a decision by Maduro after Trump gave public support to Venezuelan lawmaker Juan Guaido, who claimed to be the nation’s interim president in January that year.Minister of the Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela’s most powerful politicians and a Maduro loyalist, said earlier in January that reopening the US embassy in Caracas would give the Venezuelan government a way to oversee the treatment of the deposed president.