Venezuela and Israel agreed to establish a coordination mechanism to provide consular services to their citizens, taking the first formal step to restore the bilateral relationship after 17 years of diplomatic rupture.
The decision was announced this Tuesday following talks between Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Félix Plasencia González, and Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar. The understanding will allow for consular assistance to citizens of both countries residing in the other territory.
Venezuelan and Israeli authorities have already worked together to assist the victims of the earthquake in the Caribbean country
For the moment, the agreement does not imply the full restoration of diplomatic relations, which have been interrupted since January 2009, although it constitutes the most significant rapprochement between Caracas and Jerusalem since then.
The understanding came after the humanitarian cooperation deployed by Israel following the severe earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24. An Israeli delegation composed of disaster response specialists and structural engineers traveled to the country to assist in assessing affected buildings and designing contingency plans.
At the end of July, interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez received members of the mission and publicly thanked them for their assistance. The two governments also agreed to maintain technical cooperation related to recovery efforts following the earthquakes.
The rapprochement also represents a significant change in Venezuelan foreign policy following the departure from power of Nicolás Maduro on January 3.
During the administrations of Hugo Chávez and Maduro, Caracas maintained an openly confrontational policy with Israel and deepened its ties with Iran and other actors hostile to the United States. This strategy placed Venezuela for years at the opposite end of Washington and Jerusalem on the international stage.
Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009
The diplomatic break had been ordered by Chávez on January 15, 2009, when he expelled the Israeli ambassador in Caracas amid the conflict in Gaza. Maduro subsequently maintained that orientation. Since the establishment of Rodríguez's interim government, Venezuela has begun to gradually modify that foreign policy and rebuild channels with the United States and its allies.
The agreement with Israel is still limited to the consular and technical level, but it constitutes a concrete signal of the new direction. Furthermore, both governments highlighted the role of the Venezuelan Jewish community as a historical bridge between the two countries.
