The diplomatic relationship between the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela were strained during parts of the 21st century.

Relations were strong during the second half of the 20th century. This changed in 1999 when Hugo Chávez took office as president of Venezuela. Years later, Chávez declared himself socialist and anti-imperialist, in reference to being against the government of the United States. Tensions between the countries increased further after Venezuela accused the George W. Bush administration of supporting the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt against Chávez,Observer International, 2002, 'Venezuela coup linked to Bush team'. Retrieved 22 September 2007 an accusation that was partly retracted later. Relations were further strained when Venezuela expelled the U.S. ambassador in September 2008 in solidarity with Bolivia after a U.S. ambassador was accused of cooperating with violent anti-government groups in the country. Though relations thawed somewhat under President Barack Obama in 2009, they steadily deteriorated once again shortly afterwards. In February 2014, the Venezuelan government ordered three American diplomats out of the country on unproved accusations of promoting violence.President Chavez ordered the expulsion of the U.S. Ambassador, John Duddy, on 11 September 2008, in solidarity with the Bolivian government's decision to expel the U.S. Ambassador in La Paz. The U.S. Government ordered the reciprocal expulsion of the Venezuelan Ambassador in Washington. Source: U.S. Department of State Background Notes on Venezuela

During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Nicolás Maduro announced that Venezuela was breaking ties with the United States, following President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. recognized Juan Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly, as interim president. Although the United States stopped recognizing Guaidó's presidential claim when the opposition National Assembly's vote to dissolve Guaidó's interim government took effect in 2023, the U.S. continued to recognize the National Assembly elected in the 2015 parliamentary election.

In 2025, during the second Trump administration, the United States sent Venezuelans accused of being members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), a maximum security prison in El Salvador. That same year, the US government designated gangs such as Tren de Aragua, along with the Cartel of the Suns, as terrorist organizations. In September 2025, the United States started to carry out airstrikes against alleged drug boats as part of a military buildup in the Caribbean Sea. In January 2026, the U.S. conducted a military operation, capturing Maduro and his wife and transferring them to New York. After the ouster of Maduro, the United States and Venezuela have begun taking the first steps towards restoring relations.

19th century

During the Latin American wars of independence, the United States was officially neutral but permitted Latin American agents to obtain weapons and supplies. With the reception of Manuel Torres in 1821, the Gran Colombia (present-day Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru, Venezuela, western Guyana and northwest Brazil) became the first former Spanish colony recognized by the United States, and the United States was the second government (after the Kingdom of Brazil) to recognize an independent Latin American state. The first diplomatic envoy from the U.S. arrived in Bogotá December 1822. The next year the Anderson–Gual Treaty became the first bilateral treaty the U.S. concluded with another American country. It established mutual most favored nation status between the countries.Michael L. Connif, Panama and the United States: The Forced Alliance (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2001) p. 11. Following the dissolution of Gran Colombia, the United States recognized the Venezuela as an independent republic. In his 1835 State of the Union, Jackson noted:From our diplomatic agents in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Central America, Venezuela, and New Granada constant assurances are received of the continued good understanding with the Governments to which they are severally accredited.

Grover Cleveland Administration

The Venezuela crisis between Britain occurred over a boundary dispute during Cleveland's second term. Faced with the question of whether or not to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, recommending a court of arbitration to resolve the matter Cleveland said:The dispute has reached such a stage as to make it now incumbent upon the United States to take measures to determine with sufficient certainty for its justification what is the true divisional line between the Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana. The inquiry to that end should of course be conducted carefully and judicially, and due weight should be given to all available evidence, records, and facts in support of the claims of both parties.

In order that such an examination should be prosecuted in a thorough and satisfactory manner, I suggest that the Congress make an adequate appropriation for the expenses of a commission, to be appointed by the Executive, who shall make the necessary investigation and report upon the matter with the least possible delay. When such report is made and accepted it will, in my opinion, be the duty of the United States to resist by every means in its power, as a willful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory which after investigation we have determined of right belongs to Venezuela.

Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903

When American diplomat, Herbert Wolcott Bowen, returned to Venezuela in January 1904, he noticed Venezuela seemed more peaceful and secure. Castro would reassure Bowen that the United States and Venezuela were experiencing a strong relationship. However, after the Castro regime delayed fulfilling the agreements which ended the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03, Bowen lost confidence. This would eventually lead to the Castro regime's economic policy angering the United States, France, and the Netherlands. See p. 483. This would play a crucial role in the Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908.

Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship (1953–1958) Dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez overthrew the elected president, Rómulo Gallegos, and seized power in the 1948 Venezuelan coup d'état. During this prosperity, foreign investment, particularly from American oil companies, grew along with the support from the Jiménez Regime. The anti-communist regime allowed and supported the exploitation of the country's natural resources by the American oil industry, as a portion of the profits made its way from companies like Mobil and Exxon to the personal coffers of Pérez Jiménez.

Pérez Jiménez received the Legion of Merit from the U.S. government in 1954.

The Seguridad Nacional, headed by Pedro Estrada, tortured thousands of Venezuelans and disappeared several others, both in its headquarters in Caracas and in a confinement camp on Guasina Island in the jungles of the Orinoco. After the 1958 Venezuelan coup d'état, when Pérez Jiménez abandoned the government and the country on 23 January 1958, more than 400 prisoners were found in the basement of the headquarters of the Seguridad Nacional.

Presidency of Hugo Chávez Vargas tragedy

During the evacuation of survivors of the Vargas tragedy, when torrential rains and the flash floods and debris flows in the Vargas State in 2000 killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed thousands of homes, a disaster relief team from the United States headed up by New Mexico State Senator Joseph Carraro arrived with a medical team and supplies, and to provide water purification and sleeping units.

Chávez initially accepted assistance from anyone who offered, with the United States sending helicopters and dozens of soldiers that arrived two days after the disaster. When defense minister Raúl Salazar complied with the offer of the United States' further aid that included 450 Marines and naval engineers aboard the USS Tortuga, Chávez told Salazar to decline the offer since "[i]t was a matter of sovereignty". Salazar became angry and assumed that Chávez's opinion was influenced by talks with Fidel Castro, though he complied with the order. Though additional aid was necessary, Chávez thought a more revolutionary image was more important and the USS Tortuga returned to its port, according to author Rory Carroll.

United States interference allegations In April 2002, Chávez was briefly removed from power during the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt while an interim government led. The Guardian published a claim by Wayne Madsen alleging U.S. Navy involvement. U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, D-CT, requested an investigation of concerns that Washington appeared to condone the removal of Chávez, which found that "U.S. officials acted appropriately and did nothing to encourage an April coup against Venezuela's president" nor did they provide any naval logistical support.U.S. Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela. State Dept. Issues Report on U.S. Actions During Venezuelan Coup: (Inspector General finds U.S. officials acted properly during coup). . Retrieved 26 May 2006.U.S. Department of State and Office of Inspector General. A Review of U.S. Policy toward Venezuela, November 2001 – April 2002. . Retrieved 26 May 2006. CIA documents indicate that the Bush administration knew about a plot weeks before the April 2002 military coup. They cite a document dated 6 April 2002, which says: "dissident military factions...are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chávez, possibly as early as this month." According to William Brownfield, ambassador to Venezuela, the U.S. embassy in Venezuela warned Chávez about a coup plot in April 2002.Márquez Humberto. (IPS 9 March 2006) "Statements Indicate Chávez May Indeed Be in Somebody's Crosshairs". . Retrieved 21 June 2006. Further, the United States Department of State and the investigation by the Office of the Inspector General found no evidence that "U.S. assistance programs in Venezuela, including those funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), were inconsistent with U.S. law or policy" or ". . . directly contributed, or was intended to contribute, to [the coup d'état]."CIA Documents Show Bush Knew of 2002 Coup in Venezuela. . Democracy Now, 29 November 2004. Retrieved 15 August 2006.

Chávez also claimed, during the coup's immediate aftermath, that the U.S. was still seeking his overthrow. On 6 October 2002, he stated that he had foiled a new coup plot, and on 20 October 2002, he stated that he had barely escaped an assassination attempt while returning from a trip to Europe. However, his administration failed to investigate or present conclusive evidence to that effect. During that period, the US Ambassador to Venezuela warned the Chávez administration of two potential assassination plots.

Venezuela expelled US naval commander, John Correa, in January 2006. The Venezuelan government claimed Correa, an attaché at the US embassy, had been collecting information from low-ranking Venezuelan military officers. Chávez claimed he had infiltrated the US embassy and found evidence of Correa's spying. The US declared these claims "baseless" and responded by expelling Jeny Figueredo, the chief aid to the Venezuelan ambassador, to the US. Chávez promoted Figueredo to Deputy Foreign Minister to Europe.Chavez promotes expelled diplomat BBC NEWS