Restoring diplomatic and consular ties between the US and Venezuela has been agreed upon. The two parties will work together to advance political reconciliation, support economic recovery, and foster stability, the agency said in a statement. The establishment of formal bilateral connections is a highly symbolic gesture, even if their diplomatic relations have been improving since the US military’s surprise incursion in January that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro and his wife were taken into custody by forces under President Donald Trump’s orders, and they were brought before a Manhattan court to answer to accusations of drug and firearm offenses, which they deny. Washington has already named a new diplomat in Venezuela, and the US embassy in Caracas, which closed in 2019, has reopened. A “new stage of constructive dialogue, based on mutual respect” is what the Venezuelan administration declared on Thursday.
It said that the “social and economic happiness of the Venezuelan people” must be the outcome of the partnership. However, unlike the US state department’s announcement, the Caracas statement did not mention a transition or upcoming elections. Maduro, who is scheduled to go on trial in the US this month, and other government officials have been charged by the US with running a criminal organization that engages in illicit mining and drug trafficking.
More diplomatic personnel from the US embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, are anticipated to be sent to Caracas shortly, according to sources who spoke to the BBC. Officials will find it much simpler to conduct in-person negotiations and offer consular services as a result of the relocation. Helping the Venezuelan people progress through a “phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government” was the stated goal of the US State Department’s engagement.
On Thursday, as he was returning to the United States from a visit to Venezuela, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters on the Caracas airport that it was a “brilliant strategic move” to act in Venezuela before Iran.
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