CARACAS — The United States and Venezuela have agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, a significant shift in a long-tense relationship, the State Department announced Thursday. The move follows several visits by officials from the Trump administration after a U.S. military operation removed former President Nicolás Maduro in January. Since then, Washington has stepped up pressure on Maduro loyalists now in power to accept its approach for the oil-rich country.
Relations had been severed in 2019 during the first Trump administration after Maduro closed ties following U.S. President Donald Trump’s public backing of opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president that January. U.S. diplomatic personnel were relocated to neighboring Colombia.
The State Department said talks have concentrated on ‘‘helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government.’’
The announcement came after a two-day visit by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, which largely addressed Venezuela’s mining sector, and followed Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s February trip focused on the country’s oil potential. Both secretaries have sought to attract foreign investment to support the administration’s phased plan to stabilize the crisis-hit nation.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a former vice president under Maduro, said on state television that the steps ‘‘will strengthen relations between our two countries.’’ Her government added that renewed diplomatic ties ‘‘will contribute to strengthening understanding and opening opportunities for a positive and mutually beneficial relationship,’’ and said the rapprochement should lead to ‘‘the social and economic happiness of the Venezuelan people.’’
Since the U.S. operation, the administration has pressed Venezuela to enact wide-ranging reforms, including opening its oil sector to foreign companies. Rodríguez’s government also approved an amnesty law that has led to the release of politicians, activists, lawyers and others, effectively acknowledging that hundreds had been detained for political reasons.
President Trump’s decision to engage Rodríguez rather than the opposition after Maduro’s ouster surprised many Venezuelans. Opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said she will return to Venezuela in the coming weeks and predicted that elections will be held.
Observers noted that such changes would have been unthinkable months earlier in a country whose Chavismo movement has endured U.S. sanctions and a prolonged economic crisis.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
