Ambassador returns to Venezuela to resume ties

The State Department announced today that Ambassador Patrick Duddy will return to Venezuela after President Hugo Chavez expelled U.S. diplomatic staff last fall. DipNote, the State Department’s official Twitter, tweeted:

Briefing Notes: Amb Patrick Duddy returned to Caracas to advance more open, direct, productive communications between the U.S., Venezuela.

Last Thursday, the State Department announced that it would send Duddy to Caracas.

Duddy’s return may be a hot-button issues amongst liberals and conservatives. Last September Chavez threw out U.S. diplomatic staff accusing the U.S. of disrespecting Latin America. In return then-President Bush expelled the Venezuelan ambassador from Washington.

But when President Obama attended the Summit of the Americas in April, Chavez made overtures to him that raised some eyebrows. Chavez handed Obama a copy of his book, which criticizes American intervention in Latin America, and shook his hand.

Republicans highlighted the exchange as an example of Obama’s weakness in foreign policy, while Democrats downplayed it. Will this action garner as much press coverage as ‘the handshake’ did? Or will its coincidence with the Fourth of July weekend put it out of focus?

Cross posted to Twitter Room