US: As the embassy review gets underway, Venezuela wants to speak with
US: While the U.S. conducted a first on-the-ground evaluation in Caracas despite persistent security threats, the Venezuelan administration said it wanted to start exploratory discussions with Washington to reopen diplomatic posts.
“To begin an exploratory diplomatic process with the Government of the United States of America, with the goal of reestablishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” the Venezuelan administration stated in a statement. “National sovereignty and the Bolivarian Diplomacy of Peace” were cited as the driving forces for the action.
The declaration coincided with the confirmation by US authorities that security and diplomatic staff had visited the Venezuelan capital to evaluate the circumstances for a potential reopening of the US Embassy.
A senior State Department official said, “As President Trump stated, we are preparing to allow for a reopening should the President make that decision.”
According to a senior State Department source, “US diplomatic and security personnel from the VAU, including Charge d’Affaires John T. McNamara, traveled to Caracas on January 9 to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations.”
However, the Venezuelan statement combined the conciliatory approach with scathing criticism of Washington. In breach of international law, it claimed that Venezuela had been the target of “a criminal, illegitimate, and illegal aggression against its territory and its people,” which resulted in “more than one hundred deaths of civilians and military personnel.”
“The illegal kidnapping of the Constitutional President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and the First Lady, Cilia Flores” was also charged in the statement, which called it a grave violation of international legal principles and heads of state immunity.
The US Embassy in Caracas, meanwhile, reaffirmed its most serious travel advisory for Venezuela, stating that the country’s security situation is still “fluid.” Citing “severe risks to Americans,” such as unjust arrest, criminality, civil instability, and restricted access to healthcare, the embassy advised US nationals not to visit the nation.
The embassy said that all consular services are still not accessible and that there are no commercial aircraft entering or leaving Venezuela, making evacuation alternatives more difficult. It said that “the US government is still unable to provide emergency services to US citizens in Venezuela.”
Amid a deepening political crisis, the United States stopped embassy operations and removed its diplomatic staff from Caracas in March 2019. Since then, Washington has managed consular affairs via the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, and has cautioned Americans from visiting Venezuela.