The United States Government confirmed this Tuesday to the EFE agency that Laura Dogu continues to be the chargé d’affaires at the head of its embassy in Venezuela, thus denying the information that indicated that she had been replaced by another diplomat at the head of the legation.
“Ambassador Dogu continues to be the acting chargé d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Caracas and continues her work to advance the Trump Administration’s three-phase plan for a stable, prosperous and democratic Venezuela,” explained a State Department spokesperson.
The statement comes after several Guatemalan media outlets assured that the current chargé d’affaires in the Central American country, John Barrett, would be in charge of replacing Dogu at the head of the US diplomatic representation in Venezuela.
Dogu was appointed chargé d’affaires for Venezuela at the end of January, three weeks after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and two months before Washington announced the reopening of its embassy in Caracas, closed since the breaking of diplomatic ties in 2019.
In turn, Barret was appointed charge d’affaires at the embassy of the North American country in Guatemala City a day later, on January 23.
After the overthrow of Maduro at the hands of Washington, the Government of Donald Trump has ensured that it protects the Government of the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, so that the Caribbean country goes through three consecutive phases: stabilization, recovery and democratic transition.
The United States and Venezuela broke relations in 2019, when the Trump Government, in its first term, recognized the opposition Juan Guaidó, then president of the National Assembly, as interim president of the country.
