US State Department team arrives in Venezuela for first time since Maduro’s capture

(CNN) — A US State Department team traveled to Venezuela on Friday for the first time since the ouster of Nicolas Maduro, according to a US official.

The visit comes as the US looks to reopen its embassy in Caracas and underscores the administration’s desire to re-establish a diplomatic presence in the country that President Donald Trump has said the United States is going to “run.”

The official said that US diplomatic and security personnel from the Venezuela Affairs Unit, which is based in Colombia, and the acting US ambassador to Colombia John McNamara, traveled to the Venezuelan capital “to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations.”

The US withdrew its diplomats and suspended operations at the embassy in Caracas in 2019. The Venezuela Affairs Unit has been operating with a team of US diplomats at the embassy in Bogota.

A senior State Department official said Monday the department was “making preparations to allow for a reopening” of its embassy in Venezuela “should the president make that decision.”

There are ongoing discussions about meetings between US diplomats in the Venezuela Affairs Unit and Venezuelan interim political leadership, but they are not expected to take place on this trip, said a senior US official.

The Venezuelan foreign ministry said Friday it had started an “exploratory diplomatic process” with the US, aimed at “re-establishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” as well as addressing the consequences of what they described as the “aggression and kidnapping” of Maduro and his wife.

They confirmed a US delegation had come to Venezuela to “conduct technical and logistical assessments” and said a delegation of Venezuelan diplomats would travel to the US “to carry out the corresponding duties.”

Former diplomats said that a lack of US presence on the ground would pose a challenge to rebuilding and ensuring accountability in Venezuela. Trump has said he wants to see US oil companies reopen their operations in the country and help with its rebuilding. He said earlier this week that the US was “asked” to reopen the embassy but did not provide further details.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told key lawmakers at a briefing Monday that the State Department is looking into whether it would be possible to reopen the US embassy and said officials would have to take a look at the building to see if it’s even viable, according to a source familiar with the briefing. He said that they were planning to send people in the coming days.

Another source said there have also been discussions about sending a team of technical experts to assess the state of the building. They will need to see what repairs will be needed before it can be reopened.

The embassy has been closed since the Maduro government severed diplomatic ties with the first Trump administration over its recognition of opposition figure Juan Guaidó as leader of the country. At the same time, Maduro closed Venezuelan diplomatic outposts and withdrew personnel from the US.

One of the sources noted that it would likely be a long process before the embassy could fully reopen. However, a small presence could be established rather quickly, the person said.

Some diplomats have already volunteered to go serve in Caracas, sources said.

A former senior US official said that the act of reopening the embassy “could be very fast.” However, the State Department needs “to be very confident that the security conditions will allow safety for US personnel.”

“The key for me is, do you have the security conditions, and do you have the confidence that there wouldn’t be a high probability that our people would be injured or kidnapped taken hostage by the regime? That is the hard part,” they told CNN.

CNN’s Sol Amaya and Uriel Blanco contributed reporting.

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