Ottawa considering reopening embassy in Venezuela, where it already employs locals

OTTAWA — Global Affairs Canada says it’s thinking about reopening its embassy in Venezuela, where it already has locals working on the ground in the capital Caracas.

“We are looking at the conditions that may allow … to have Canadian diplomats return there,” said Wendy Drukier, the department’s director general for hemispheric affairs.

“This is a situation that we will continue to examine under the change in circumstances.”

Drukier was testifying Tuesday to the House foreign affairs committee about the sudden U.S. operation in Caracas in early January, when American forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and hand-picked one of his deputies to run the country.

She told members of Parliament on the committee that Global Affairs Canada has advised Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on whether that capture complied with international law. But she said she can’t share that analysis publicly because such advice counts as a cabinet confidence.

The U.S. has reopened its embassy in Caracas since then. Drukier said Canada will follow suit only if Venezuelan authorities properly accredit Canadian diplomats with legal protections to help ensure their safety.

Venezuela’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately reply when The Canadian Press asked for comment from the country’s foreign ministry.

Canada and Venezuela have not formally severed relations, but Canada closed its Caracas embassy in June 2019 saying Venezuela would not renew expiring visas for Canadian diplomats. The move came as Ottawa was co-leading efforts to recognize the country’s opposition as its legitimate government.

Ottawa said at the time it was “evaluating the status of Venezuelan diplomats appointed by the Maduro regime to Canada,” and Global Affairs Canada’s database of foreign representatives shows no Venezuelan diplomats in Canada — except for one accredited to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, similar to Iran.

Drukier also said that, since Maduro’s capture in January, Ottawa has seen no reason to change the sanctions it maintained on various Venezuelan officials.

“At the moment, we don’t see conditions for official recognition of the government. We would have to see the process that unfolds in order to determine when the right moment would be,” she said.

Drukier testified that Global Affairs Canada already employs a small number of locals in Venezuela, but said Canada hasn’t had any diplomats in the country since 2019.

Departmental documents suggest there were four local staff employed in 2022, including a driver, a consular officer and two common services officers, but the department did not reply to a question to confirm the number currently employed.

Drukier said there isn’t a lot of demand for consular services among Canadians in Venezuela right now.

She said the country does not appear to have experienced an increase in the food insecurity or violence that already existed in Venezuela before January’s U.S. operation.

After U.S. forces took Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump allowed Maduro’s second-in-command to take the reins with a focus on boosting the country’s oil exports, dismissing opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

The Carney government has not directly challenged that policy, prompting criticism from former ambassadors and activists who were part of Canada’s years of efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela.

That criticism intensified after Anand noted in a January statement that the U.S. believed Venezuelans should have a chance to elect their own leader in the future.

Ben Rowswell, Canada’s former ambassador to Venezuela, said that statement parrots an anti-democratic message from Washington. He argued Canada should instead help Venezuelans put into office the leaders they chose in the stolen 2024 election.

In 2024, Venezuela’s opposition produced printouts from polling stations proving that their presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez — backed by Machado — won the vote. Canada and its peers backed this view, deeming Maduro to be an illegitimate leader — a stance that echoed western reaction to a 2018 election in Venezuela that was also widely seen as stolen.

Drukier said Ottawa supports a transparent transition to democracy in Venezuela, which likely would involve putting the opposition leaders who won the stolen 2024 election into power, followed by free elections.

Stuart Savage, Canada’s ambassador to the Organization of American States, said Canada could one day work through the OAS to offer “technical assistance in organizing elections and eventually election observation missions to ensure elections are free and fair,” if Venezuela wanted that help.

Ottawa is also pushing for the OAS’s human rights commission to be allowed into Venezuela to do its first analysis in two decades, he said.

Drukier expanded on possible outcomes for the country during her committee appearance.

“The best-case scenario would be effective stabilization of the situation, an orderly democratic transition led by Venezuelans,” she said.

“Hopefully, that would mean the reconstruction of independent democratic institutions, amnesties for those who have been persecuted by the regime, and free and fair elections.

“On the other hand, a worst-case scenario might involve increasing violence, criminal activity, increasing a loss of control of security forces in Venezuela — which could then spill over to neighbouring countries and even to North America.”

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong suggested Canadian experts in extracting heavy crude oil could work with a future, democratic Venezuela to help shore up the country’s energy sector. He said that might require Ottawa’s support in navigating sanctions from various countries.

Drukier and Savage said energy experts have estimated it will take about 10 years for Venezuela to significantly increase its oil exports.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2026.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press