A U.S. diplomatic team arrived in Caracas on Friday, January 9, 2026, to conduct an initial assessment for a possible phased resumption of U.S. Embassy operations, which have been suspended since 2019, according to CNN as cited by The Daily Wire. The visit comes days after President Donald Trump said U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a U.S. operation that took them to the United States to face charges.
A group of American diplomats traveled to Caracas on Friday for what was described as an initial assessment tied to a potential phased reopening of U.S. operations, The Daily Wire reported, citing CNN.
The United States withdrew its diplomats from Caracas in 2019 during the first Trump administration amid the Venezuela political crisis. The Trump administration is now weighing whether and how to resume an on-the-ground presence in the Venezuelan capital, according to the same reporting.
Trump said the new diplomatic push followed cooperation from Venezuelan authorities on releasing detainees. On Friday morning, he said Venezuela had agreed to release political prisoners and that he cancelled a planned “second wave of attacks” because of that cooperation, according to The Daily Wire. However, reporting by Reuters and human-rights groups has cast doubt on claims of large-scale releases, saying many political detainees remain in custody.
In Caracas, Venezuela’s government has continued to be run by officials aligned with Maduro. Multiple outlets, including AP and Reuters, have described Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as acting president after Maduro’s removal and capture.
Trump has suggested U.S. oversight of Venezuela could last for years, Reuters reported, as the administration frames its plan around restoring order and rebuilding the economy. Trump told Reuters that reconstruction would be tied closely to Venezuela’s oil sector, arguing the United States could rebuild the country “in a very profitable way” while taking control of oil flows.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has publicly supported a policy of controlling Venezuelan oil sales and the resulting revenue as leverage for political and economic reform. In remarks reported by ABC News and other outlets, Wright said that if the United States controls oil sales and the cash generated by those sales, it would have “large leverage” to drive change.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the administration’s priorities include stabilizing the country, reviving the economy, and rebuilding civil society, according to The Daily Wire’s account of a New York Times report.
The administration has also sought major private-sector investment to restart Venezuela’s oil industry. Trump met with U.S. oil executives at the White House and urged companies to invest about $100 billion, according to AP and Reuters, though some executives publicly warned that Venezuela’s legal and political risks remain a major obstacle to large-scale investment.