The Embassy of the United States in Caracas represents the United States in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Venezuela. On March 11, 2019, the Department of State announced the temporary suspension of operations of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas and the withdrawal of diplomatic personnel. Currently, all consular services are suspended and consular inquiries are to be referred to the Embassy of the United States in Bogota,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. On April 18, 2022, the embassy in Bogota started allowing U.S. citizens located in Venezuela to renew their passports by mail, thus restoring access to some consular services. The United States has not had an ambassador to Venezuela since July 2010 when Patrick Duddy finished his assignment. Since July 2018, the embassy has been led by the ''charge d'affaires'' James "Jimmy" Story from the Embassy of the United States in Bogota, Colombia, after President

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

ordered the expulsion of Todd D. Robinson in May 2018.

History

Bipartisanship

On 1958, shortly after the overthrow of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez,

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's motorcade was attacked in

during his 1958 goodwill tour of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Nixon ended up unharmed and his entourage managed to reach the U.S. embassy. Two different accounts explain how Nixon's car was ultimately able to escape the mob and continue to the embassy. According to one version of events, the U.S. press corps' flatbed truck, accompanying the motorcade, was used to clear a path through the crowd. In Nixon's remembrance of the incident,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

photographer Hank Griffin at one point had to use his camera to beat back a protester who tried to mount the truck. According to a second account, soldiers of the Venezuelan Army arrived and cleared the traffic, thereafter moving the mob back at

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

-point to allow Nixon's car to pass. Shortly after the Nixons arrived at the embassy, the Venezuelan army surrounded and fortified the chancellery, reinforcing the small U.S. Marine guard force. Their assistance had earlier been requested by the U.S. ambassador. That afternoon, members of the ruling junta arrived at the embassy and lunched with Nixon. The next morning, representatives of Venezuela's major labor unions came to the embassy and requested an audience with Nixon, which was granted. The union leaders apologized for events of the preceding day. Additional activities were canceled, and Nixon departed Caracas the next morning, seven hours early. His motorcade to the airport was protected by a major deployment of Venezuelan Army infantry and armored forces in the capital. Nixon described having taken the same route as before, whose streets were empty and heavy patrolled after the whole area had been tear-gassed.

Hugo Chávez

During the presidencies of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

and

, relations between Venezuela and the United States deteriorated. On 11 September 2008, Ambassador Patrick Duddy left Venezuela after Chávez claimed that he was involved in an American-led initiative to remove him from office. Duddy eventually returned to his position in July 2009 but after his assignment ended in July 2010, Chávez refused a replacement for the ambassador, which would be Larry Leon Palmer.

Nicolás Maduro

On 2 March 2015, President Maduro accused the United States of plotting a coup against him and demanded that the Embassy of the United States in Caracas reduce its staff from over 200 workers to 17 individuals within two weeks. With about 232,500 applications made through the embassy in 2014, this created fears that difficulties would arise for the demand of visas by Venezuelans. Despite Maduro's orders, the staff did not change at the embassy. In December 2017, Todd D. Robinson was appointed by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to be charge d'affairs en pied at the embassy in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In January 2018, Robinson attempted to obtain the release of American citizen, Joshua Holt who had been jailed in the country by meeting with Venezuelan foreign minister,

Jorge Arreaza Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat (Venezuelan ; born 6 June 1973) is a Venezuelan politician who has held several important positions in the administration of President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro. From August 2017 to August ...

. On 22 May the same year, Robinson and his deputy, Brian Naranjo were expelled from the country as ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'' by Nicolas Maduro, the newly re-elected president. Days later, Joshua Holt was freed and allowed to return to the USA. On 23 January 2019, Maduro announced the unilateral breakdown of diplomatic relations with the United States, giving 72 hours to US diplomatic officials to leave the country. The decision came after President

recognized

Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician and opposition figure. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of V ...

as interim president of Venezuela. On 12 March 2019, Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...

announced over

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that the US would withdraw all remaining personnel from the embassy within the week, citing the increasingly deteriorating situation in the country. On 5 April 2019, the United States signed a

protecting power A protecting power is a country that represents another sovereign state—the protected power—in a third country where the protected power lacks its own formal diplomatic representation (e.g., lacks an embassy or consulate). It is common fo ...

agreement with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

to represent its interests in Venezuela, however, the agreement is not yet operational as it has not been approved by Maduro's government due to the United States rejecting Maduro's government's proposal to have

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

as its protecting power as the United States only recognizes Guaidó as interim president. In the meantime, the United States has instead established a "Venezuela Affairs Unit" section at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota,

to serve as an interim diplomatic office to Venezuela.

Works

Organized through the embassy, classes teaching the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

are offered at Bi-National Centers in the cities of Caracas,

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

, and Mérida. Poor high school students in Venezuela are also taught English language classes and United States culture through the

English Access Microscholarship Program The English Access Microscholarship Program is an international project created by the U.S Department of State which aims to help teens (13–20 years-old) from economically disadvantaged backgrounds gain opportunities in employment, education, ...

while the Youth Ambassadors Program sends Venezuelan students in high school for three weeks of studies. The

International Visitor Leadership Program The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is a professional exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The mission of IVLP is to offer current and emerging international leader ...

allows Venezuelan professionals to visit the United States to observe their American counterparts. Due to the approval of the United States by Venezuelans, demand and popularity for such programs are very high and competitive. The visa system of the embassy works by accepting payments and applications made in advance online. Appointments are then made after applying online, with individuals required to arrive early and wait in line to make sure they fit into their designated appointments. Visa and United States residency applications have increased in recent years.

References

{{Diplomatic missions in Venezuela