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The United States and Venezuela agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, the State Department said Thursday.
The announcement was made at the end of a two-day visit by US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to Venezuela. The visit largely focused on the country’s mining sector and followed a February visit by Energy Secretary Chris Wright that centred on Venezuela’s oil potential.
The State Department said talks between the countries were focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, formerly Nicolás Maduro’s vice president, said on state television that such steps “will strengthen relations between our two countries”.
Rodríguez’s government later expressed confidence that reestablishing diplomatic relations “will contribute to strengthening understanding and opening opportunities for a positive and mutually beneficial relationship”.
Nearly a decade of severed ties
Relations between the two countries were cut off in 2019, during the first Trump administration, at Maduro’s decision.
They closed their embassies jointly after US President Donald Trump publicly supported Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó, who claimed to be the nation’s interim president in January, prompting US diplomatic staff to move to neighbouring Colombia.
The move comes after rounds of Trump administration officials have visited the South American nation following a US military operation that deposed Maduro in January.
Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday that “Delcy Rodríguez, who is the President of Venezuela, is doing a great job, and working with US Representatives very well”.
Trump stunned Venezuelans in and outside their home country with his decision to work with Rodríguez instead of the political opposition following Maduro’s ouster.
On Sunday, Venezuela’s top opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize María Corina Machado said she will return to Venezuela in the coming weeks and that elections will be held there.
Machado met with Trump in January and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize medal.