Overview
- Caracas and Washington opened a process to restore diplomatic relations, with U.S. envoy John McNamara leading an initial assessment and Venezuelan officials preparing a reciprocal trip to the United States.
- Trump told oil executives the U.S. will decide which companies operate in Venezuelan fields, offered security guarantees for projects, and projected at least $100 billion in private investment.
- U.S. forces seized the tanker Olina in the Caribbean in the latest interdiction of shipments linked to sanctioned Venezuelan crude, which PDVSA portrayed as a coordinated operation under the new political climate.
- Limited releases of political prisoners began, prompting the White House to suspend a planned second wave of attacks, though rights groups say more than 800 people remain detained and families held vigils outside El Rodeo I prison.
- Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores remain in U.S. custody in New York on narcoterrorism charges, while Trump plans to host opposition figure María Corina Machado next week and meet Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro in February.