U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela [AFP Yonhap News]

The U.S. Trump administration has begun preparations to reopen its embassy in Venezuela.

U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, John McNamara, and Venezuela affairs staff from the U.S. State Department visited Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on the 9th (local time), CNN and other outlets reported.

A State Department official stated that they went "to conduct an initial assessment in preparation for the possibility of a phased resumption of embassy operations."

The United States suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas and withdrew its diplomats during the first Trump administration in 2019.

At the time, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared a severance of diplomatic relations with the United States and demanded the withdrawal of diplomats in response to the Trump administration's recognition of opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó as interim president, thereby pressuring his government.

Since then, the State Department's Venezuela affairs team has been operating from the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.

The visit by State Department personnel to Venezuela is the first since the United States arrested President Maduro on the 3rd.

A senior State Department official said that discussions are underway for meetings between the State Department's Venezuela affairs team and members of Venezuela's interim government, but such meetings are not expected to take place during this visit to Caracas.

Earlier, President Trump stated that the U.S. had received a request to reopen the embassy, and Senator Marco Rubio recently mentioned in a congressional briefing that the State Department is considering the possibility of reopening the embassy.

In relation to this, a source told CNN that there had been discussions about sending technical experts to assess the condition of the embassy building and any necessary repairs.