US envoy arrives in Venezuela to reopen diplomatic mission after 7 years

The move comes almost one month after a military action ordered by US President Donald Trump removed the country's then-leader Nicolas Maduro from office

US Ambassador Laura Dogu arrived in Caracas on Saturday to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties.

The move comes almost one month after a military action ordered by US President Donald Trump removed the South American country's then-leader Nicolas Maduro from office.

"My team and I are ready to work," Dogu said in a message posted by the US Embassy in Venezuela 's account on X. It also posted pictures of her upon her landing at Maiquetia airport.

Venezuela and the United States broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019 in a decision by Maduro and closed their embassies mutually after Trump gave public support to lawmaker Juan Guaido in his claim to be the nation's interim president in January of that year.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela's most powerful politicians and a Maduro loyalist, said earlier in January that reopening the US embassy would give the Venezuelan government a way to oversee the treatment of the deposed president, who is jailed in the US.

Venezuela's foreign minister Yvan Gil said in a message on Telegram that Dogu's arrival is part of a joint schedule to "deal with and resolve existing differences through diplomatic dialogue, in a foundation of mutual respect and (based on) international law."  Dogu, who was also an ambassador in Nicaragua and Honduras, arrived in Venezuela one day after the country's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, announced an amnesty bill to release political prisoners. That move was one of the key demands of the Venezuelan opposition.