First US Flight to Venezuela in Seven Years Lands in Caracas

The first direct flight from the United States to Venezuela in seven years touched down in Caracas yesterday, allowing locals, Venezuelan-Americans, and even tourists to celebrate the new connection.

Seven years ago, the Department of Homeland Security imposed an indefinite suspension of all direct flights to and from Venezuela after Maduro illegally assumed the presidency despite losing the 2019 election. The regime of Nicolás Maduro had pushed the nation even deeper into authoritarianism, and ferrying passengers there was no longer safe.

Then, in January of this year, the United States announced that they had captured Maduro via a covert CIA operation in the capital city of Caracas. An interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, was selected by the US, despite calls for Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado to take the position. Many view Rodríguez as a figurehead for the US, particularly due to the massive oil exports that have taken place after Maduro's ouster. Meanwhile, others believe that she still maintains strong ties with previous Venezuelan allies like Russia and China and should be considered as a practical and complex leader.

Last month, progress towards normalization continued, with the US reopening their embassy in Caracas after it was shut down in 2019. Diplomatic relations were fully restored, and American Airlines quickly announced that they would be the first airline to resume flights to Venezuela.

Finally, yesterday, a jet from Envoy Air – a subsidiary of American Airlines – touched down at Simón Bolivar International Airport in Caracas. The flight, which took off from Miami, lasted just three hours but marked the official restoration of seven years' worth of diplomatic relations.

Passengers arrived bearing red, yellow, and blue flags to celebrate the national colors of Venezuela, with many anticipating a long-awaited reunion with their families. Approximately 1.2 million people of Venezuelan origin currently reside in the United States, with Miami maintaining the highest-concentration of Venezuelans in the country. Many of these immigrants have been unable to visit their family and friends or see their homeland in years.

Many American airlines like Delta and United pulled out of Venezuela in 2017, but American was the last to leave, shutting down operations in 2019. Now, American Airlines is the first to return, and they hope to help reunite these families with their new route to Caracas. They also plan to open up a second daily route to the capital on May 21 and could establish routes to other Venezuelan cities like Maracaibo in the near future.

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Image credit to Reuters