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The United States appointed Laura F. Dogu as the new head of its diplomatic mission in Venezuela, as confirmed by the official website of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas and an internal source from the State Department cited by the agency AFP.
The appointment of Dogu marks an important step in the process of restoring relations between Washington and Caracas, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a military operation ordered by President Donald Trump on January 3rd.
Laura Dogu, a career diplomat, served as the United States Ambassador to Honduras from 2022 to 2025, and to Nicaragua from 2015 to 2018. Previously, she held the position of minister counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and held roles in the diplomatic missions of Turkey, Egypt, and El Salvador.
Additionally, she worked as a foreign policy advisor to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army and as Deputy Director of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The arrival of Dogu comes weeks after staff from the State Department traveled to Caracas to assess the potential reopening of the U.S. embassy, which has been closed since 2019.
The delegation consisted of diplomats and security personnel from the Venezuela Affairs Unit, which has been operating from Bogotá since then, and the acting ambassador in Colombia, John McNamara.
Diplomatic sources indicated that the purpose of this visit was to assess the security and logistical conditions for a gradual resumption of diplomatic operations in the South American country.
The reinstatement of the U.S. mission occurs in a new political context, with Delcy Rodríguez at the helm of the Chavista regime and under the oversight of the transition process driven by Washington.
President Trump has expressed his intention for American companies to participate in the economic and energy reconstruction of Venezuela, although he has yet to specify the details of the diplomatic timeline.
The appointment of Dogu allows the United States to strengthen its institutional presence in Venezuela and progress towards normalizing relations after years of political tensions and diplomatic break.
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