US Secretary of State expects diplomatic presence to return in Venezuela soon

AFP
By AFP January 29, 2026 06:40 (EAT)
US Secretary of State expects diplomatic presence to return in Venezuela soon

TOPSHOT - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks to the press during an informal meeting of The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) foreign ministers ahead of potential peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey, in Antalya, on May 15, 2025. NATO chief Mark Rutte said that he was "cautiously optimistic" for progress towards peace in Ukraine, but that it was up to Russia to take the "next steps necessary". (Photo by Umit Bektas / POOL / AFP)

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday he expected a US diplomatic presence to return soon to Venezuela following the US attack that toppled Nicolas Maduro.

"We think very quickly we'll be able to open a US diplomatic presence on the ground," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The restored US mission "will allow us to have real-time information" and improve interaction with Venezuelan authorities as well as "members of civil society, the opposition," Rubio said.

The United States last week named Laura Dogu, a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras, as the top US diplomat in Venezuela and it earlier sent a mission to assess the embassy.

The United States shuttered its embassy in 2019 shortly after Washington and other major powers declared Maduro to be illegitimate following an election marred by reports of irregularities.

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