Rubio expects US diplomatic presence to return in Venezuela soon

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday he expected a US diplomatic presence to return soon to Venezuela following the US attack that toppled Nicolas Maduro.

"We think very quickly we'll be able to open a US diplomatic presence on the ground," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The restored US mission "will allow us to have real-time information" and improve interaction with Venezuelan authorities as well as "members of civil society, the opposition," Rubio said.

The United States last week named Laura Dogu, a former ambassador to Nicaragua and Honduras, as the top US diplomat in Venezuela and it earlier sent a mission to assess the embassy.

The United States shuttered its embassy in 2019 shortly after Washington and other major powers declared Maduro to be illegitimate following an election marred by reports of irregularities.