The new head of the US diplomatic mission arrives in Venezuela to relaunch the relationship in the post-Maduro era

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured by US forces during an operation on January 3, which included bombings of the capital and other nearby regions.

The then vice president Delcy Rodriguez inherited power and immediately overturned the historically hostile relationship with Washington: he gave up control over oil, a demand from President Donald Trump, but he also announced a general amnesty and the closure of the Helicoide prisondenounced as a torture center.

Ambassador Laura Dogu will head the US mission, although in principle her role will be as chargé d’affaires.

Dogu was scheduled to arrive at the Simón Bolívar international airport, which serves Caracas, in the early afternoon.

Maduro broke relations with Washington in 2019, after he ignored his first re-election the year before and supported a failed parallel opposition government project headed by Juan Guaidó.

It was during Trump’s first term, that sought to suffocate Maduro with an oil embargo and another battery of economic sanctions, while giving Guaidó access to frozen assets and control of Venezuelan companies abroad.

Trump lost re-election, Maduro endured and Guaidó ended up in exile in Miami.

Washington also did not recognize the result of Maduro’s second re-election in 2024, which the opposition, led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machadodenounced it as a “theft.”

Joe Biden was then president. Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and embarked on a crusade against the Chavista autocrat, which began with a massive naval deployment in the Caribbean and culminated with his capture and transfer to New York to face trial for drug trafficking. His wife, Cilia Flores, was also detained.

Rodríguez changed the “anti-imperialist” discourse of his predecessor upon inheriting power under pressure from Washington: he does not want the same fate, as the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, warned him.

The new relationship has generally been good. Rodríguez speaks often with Rubio and Trump, who has described her as “formidable.”

The president encouraged an oil reform that opens the industry to private investment, with the aim of attracting American capital, and is moving forward with Trump to resume commercial flights between both countries, also suspended in 2019.

Rubio said Wednesday that he hoped to restore relations with Caracas soon.

Dogu was the United States ambassador to Nicaragua and between 2012 and 2015 she was deputy chief of mission in Mexico.

Senior US diplomats traveled to Caracas on January 9 to evaluate the reopening of the embassy closed since 2019, including John McNamara, who preceded Dogu.

Rodríguez announced on Friday a general amnesty that covers the 27 years of Chavismo in power.

“I ask on behalf of Venezuelans that vengeance, revenge or hatred not prevail,” he said in a speech before the Supreme Court.

Venezuela has just over 700 political prisoners, according to the specialized NGO Foro Penal, many in Helicoide, the headquarters of the intelligence services that has been denounced as a center of torture by the opposition and human rights activists.

Rodríguez ordered it to be converted into a “social, sports, cultural and commercial center.”

“Freedom, freedom, freedom!” shouted relatives of political prisoners stationed in front of this sinister detention center in Caracas.

“It’s fabulous news, my heart is happy,” Shirley Rincón, 55, who has three relatives in National Police cells known as Zone 7, told AFP. And she demanded the “immediate release” of all the prisoners.

The interim president also called for a “new justice system” in Venezuela. Human rights organizations and opponents have been denouncing the justice system for years, accusing it of corruption and favoring Chavismo with its decisions.