{"id":47329,"date":"2025-09-13T01:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47329"},"modified":"2025-09-13T01:40:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T06:40:50","slug":"watchdog-questions-millions-spent-on-shuttered-us-embassy-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47329","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog questions millions spent on shuttered US Embassy in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MIAMI — The U.S. government employs a sizable staff of 150 Venezuelans and spends upward of $6.7 million annually for upkeep of the shuttered American embassy and other diplomatic properties in Caracas, despite having broken relations with President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s government<\/a> in 2019, according to a new watchdog report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, published on Friday by the State Department\u2019s Office of Inspector General, criticized U.S. officials for failing to conduct a required cost-benefit analysis to determine whether taxpayers should continue to foot the bill for the security, operations, and maintenance of the 27-acre embassy compound and five residences no longer housing American diplomats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has emphasized cost-cutting efforts across the government<\/a> and remade U.S. foreign policy, including launching a military strike on a boat<\/a> off the Venezuelan coast that has upended drug busts at sea<\/a> and ramped up tensions with the adversarial South American government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Trump administration broke ties with Maduro<\/a> and recognized an opponent as Venezuela’s legitimate leader<\/a> in a failed attempt<\/a> to force the socialist leader from power. As part of the breakdown in relations, the State Department in March 2019 suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas and evacuated all diplomats, fearing a takeover of the hilltop compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A contingent of Venezuelans employed by the State Department was always known to have stayed behind to advance U.S. interests, and relations between the two governments \u2014 although outwardly hostile \u2014 never ceased completely. The size of that mission and an account of their behind-the-scenes work have not been made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspector general report, while focused on compliance with U.S. policies, nevertheless provides a rare glimpse into that sensitive work, much of it risky given the Maduro government’s record for jailing Americans<\/a>, opponents and sometimes regular Venezuelans<\/a> accused of conspiring with U.S. \u201cimperialists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relations have further soured over an American buildup of warships<\/a> in the Caribbean and a strike on a boat<\/a> that the Trump administration says was piloted by gang members trafficking drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a bad idea to have minimum baseline operations at the embassy,\u201d said Geoff Ramsey, a senior analyst on Venezuela at the Atlantic Council in Washington. \u201cIf relations ever get restored, it\u2019s important that we have a team on the ground that\u2019s ready to move the relationship forward. But if we\u2019re spending millions of dollars just to maintain a few empty buildings with no end in sight, I think it\u2019s fair to raise questions about the price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 28-page report was based on an inspection this year of the so-called Venezuela Affairs Unit, which is run out of a narrow, former training room called the \u201csubmarine\u201d at the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office was initially staffed with 10 U.S. diplomats as a stopgap way to manage relations with Maduro’s government and \u2014 it was hoped \u2014 pave the way for his quick replacement by a government aligned with the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the number of employees working at the remote mission has increased to 21, the watchdog said, adding that it could find no evidence that the State Department conducted a review to justify the staffing increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unit was headed until January by career diplomat Francisco Palmieri, who also served as the top American diplomat to Colombia at a time when the U.S. lacked an ambassador to either country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dual role of leading one of the largest U.S. overseas embassies in Colombia, while running a highly unusual remote mission, negatively affected the Venezuela Affairs Unit, the report found. It cited the difficulty Palmieri faced reviewing all sensitive diplomatic cables and participating in meetings supporting secret talks with Maduro officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the unit’s work appears to be supported by 150 locally employed staff in Venezuela. At least some of those employees appear to be working from the embassy compound itself, according to the report, which found instances of unauthorized renovations to two embassy buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lowering the U.S. flag at the embassy, the U.S. reached an agreement with Switzerland to serve as the \u201cprotecting power\u201d of the diplomatic compound. The total annual budget to support the operations in Caracas, including pay for local staff, stands at $10.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspection, which concluded in March, praised several initiatives by the Venezuela Affairs Unit, including establishing a WhatsApp channel that promoted content reaching 144,000 individuals monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the watchdog also issued seven recommendations for shoring up compliance with State Department policies on issues ranging from management of diplomatic residences and staffing levels to proper use of a vehicle fleet and cloud-based software by staff in Caracas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules require that U.S. embassies annually identify any excess properties not being fully utilized or that no longer make economic sense to maintain. In Venezuela, the U.S. owns five properties, including the ambassador’s residence, the home of the deputy chief of mission and three apartments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIAMI — The U.S. government employs a sizable staff of 150 Venezuelans and spends upward of $6.7 million annually for upkeep of the shuttered American embassy and other diplomatic properties in Caracas, despite having broken relations with President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s government in 2019, according to a new watchdog report. The report, published on Friday by the State Department\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5766,34629,1636],"class_list":["post-47329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-embassy","tag-shuttered","tag-watchdog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47331,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47329\/revisions\/47331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}