March 15, 2026 | 07:05 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Staff at the United States (US) embassy in Venezuela raised their national flag for the first time since a 2019 breakdown in diplomatic relations.
Relations between the two countries have eased since a US military operation in January captured President Nicolas Maduro and flew him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
What did the US embassy in Caracas say about the flag?
Charge d'affaires Laura Dogu said the flag was hoisted seven years to the exact day after it was lowered when Caracas severed ties after Washington refused to recognize Maduro's disputed 2018 re-election.
"The morning of March 14, 2019, the American flag was lowered for the final time at US Embassy Caracas," Dogu, the embassy's most senior diplomat, wrote in an embassy post on the platform X. "This morning, on March 14, 2026, at the same time, my team and I raised the American flag—exactly seven years after it was lowered."
"A new era for US-Venezuela relations has begun. Onward with Venezuela," she added.
The US and Venezuela reopened diplomatic relations earlier this month as the political transition unfolded in Caracas.
US President Donald Trump's administration says it is helping oversee the country's transition and has signed new energy and mining agreements with Venezuela's interim leadership aimed at opening the sector to private investment and expanding US access to the country's vast oil reserves.
Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez has called on Washington to fully lift sanctions, some of which have already been eased since January as multinational companies received limited licenses to resume operations.
Read: US, Venezuela to Restore Diplomatic Ties
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