MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US and Venezuela restore diplomatic and consular ties after seven-year rupture

The restoration of ties marks the broadest diplomatic step since Maduro’s downfall, but it comes amid an unresolved political transition

The United States and Venezuela’s interim authorities have agreed to restore diplomatic and consular relations, in a formal shift that ends a rupture dating back to 2019 and deepens the bilateral thaw that began after Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January. The announcement was made on Thursday by the State Department.

Washington said the move is intended to “facilitate” joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery and advance political reconciliation in Venezuela. In its statement, the State Department said the engagement is part of a “phased process” aimed at creating conditions for “a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.”

Relations had been severed since January 2019, when the United States recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president and Maduro’s government broke ties with Washington. The new phase comes after the U.S. military operation in early January 2026 in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. Both pleaded not guilty.

Since then, Delcy Rodríguez has been installed as interim president by Venezuela’s Supreme Court and has led the reopening of contacts with Washington. Her appointment followed Maduro’s capture and that the court treated his absence as temporary while the ruling establishment sought to preserve institutional continuity.

The normalization had already been signaled by the arrival in Caracas in late January of Laura Dogu, the top U.S. envoy for Venezuela, to reopen the American diplomatic mission that had been shut for seven years. On the Venezuelan side, Félix Plasencia was appointed in February as the country’s diplomatic representative in Washington.

The thaw has also been accompanied by an economic agenda centered on energy and minerals. This week, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Caracas to meet Rodríguez and mining executives. Shell signed several oil and gas agreements with the Venezuelan government on Thursday, after Washington eased sanctions and Caracas approved a January reform of its hydrocarbons law aimed at attracting private investment.

The restoration of ties marks the broadest diplomatic step since Maduro’s downfall, but it comes amid an unresolved political transition, with scrutiny still focused on the path ahead and with Washington’s strategic interest in oil, gas and critical minerals shaping the new relationship.