By Ryan Morgan
The U.S. flag flew over the U.S. Embassy in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas for the first time in exactly seven years.
“On the morning of March 14, 2019, the American flag was lowered for the last time at the United States Embassy in Caracas,” Laura F. Dogu, the U.S. chargé d’affaires to Venezuela, said in a statement the embassy shared on X on Saturday.
“This morning, March 14, 2026, at the same hour, my team and I raised the United States flag—exactly seven years after it was removed. A new era for U.S.-Venezuela relations has begun. Onward with Venezuela.”
The U.S. and Venezuelan governments have been gradually normalizing relations in the weeks since President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to capture then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from a fortified compound in Caracas. Following the raid early in the morning on Jan. 3, those U.S. forces transferred Maduro to the United States to face criminal prosecution on drug trafficking charges.
Relations between Washington and Caracas had already been strained under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. But those relations hit a breaking point following the South American country’s contentious 2018 election, in which election authorities called the race for Maduro.
The first Trump administration accused Maduro of engaging in election fraud and narcoterrorism and instead backed opposition figure Juan Guaidó as he positioned himself as the country’s interim leader. As tensions between Washington and Caracas grew in early 2019, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the withdrawal of U.S. diplomatic personnel from the country.
After U.S. forces captured Maduro, his deputy and political ally Delcy Rodríguez stepped in to serve as Venezuela’s interim president. Trump has shown a willingness to work with Rodríguez, provided she remains cooperative with his administration’s objectives.
In the days following the raid to capture Maduro, Trump announced the United States would receive 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
At his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, Trump said the United States had received more than 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.
The Trump administration’s plan for post-Maduro Venezuela also includes a reconciliation process for the political opposition. Since January, Rodríguez’s interim government has overseen the release of hundreds of prisoners.
Dogu arrived in Caracas on Jan. 31 to oversee the resumption of U.S. embassy operations in Venezuela.
On March 5, the State Department announced Washington and Caracas had agreed to restart diplomatic and consular relations.
“Our engagement is 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,” the State Department said last week.
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