Venezuela: US flag returns to the Embassy in Caracas after seven years of absence
The head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in the country, Laura Farnsworth Dogu, led the raising of the flag together with her team, symbolizing, in her words, the beginning of "a new era for the relations between the United States and Venezuela."
Laura Dogu, head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela.
On Saturday morning, the United States flag flew again at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, exactly seven years after it was last lowered on the same day in 2019.
The head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Venezuela, Laura Dogu, announced the symbolic event via a public message on X: "On the morning of March 14, 2019, the American flag was lowered for the last time at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. This morning, March 14, 2026, at the same time, my team and I raise the U.S. flag - exactly seven years after it was retired."
The event marks the formal restart of direct diplomatic operations on Venezuelan soil, following the rupture of bilateral relations in 2019, during the first Trump Administration, when Washington recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president and suspended the activities of its legation in Caracas, evacuating its diplomatic personnel.
The beginning of "a new era"
The reopening of the embassy follows the U.S. military intervention in January that resulted in the capture of then-dictator Nicolás Maduro, and the subsequent establishment of an interim government in Venezuela
Dogu, who arrived in Caracas in January as chargé d'affaires to prepare for the reopening, led the hoisting along with her team, symbolizing, in her words, the beginning of "a new era for relations between the United States and Venezuela."
This diplomatic gesture coincides with efforts to restore consular, commercial and oil ties, in a context of détente after years of tensions and sanctions.
LATEST
