Felix Plascencia, Delcy Rodriguez's envoy to Washington: a skilled Chavista for a highly complex mission

"As the newly appointed Venezuelan envoy to Washington, Felix Plascencia is arriving on the most delicate diplomatic stage for Chavismo in recent years. A former foreign minister, former deputy minister, and one of the few remaining technocrats in Nicolas Maduro's regime, the career diplomat assumes the task of rebuildingor at least managinga bilateral relationship that has been broken since 2019 and is now conditioned by unprecedented foreign oversight of Venezuelan authorities."

"The outgoing ambassador to the United Kingdom, Plascencia is a leader who rose to the highest echelons of Venezuelan political power more through his skills and knowledge than through ideological fervor. He is a career diplomat who obtained his credentials in 1991, relying on institutional mechanisms that Chavismo dismantled after coming to power: a competitive public examination that emphasized professional qualifications."

"Plascencia, who graduated with a degree in International Affairs from the Central University of Venezuela that same year, is personally and politically close to the current acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, around whom the few remaining figures of the pro-government technocracy gravitate. The two were colleagues when they worked at the Venezuelan embassy in the United Kingdom in the second half of the 1990s, during the government of Rafael Caldera, the last president of the democratic era."

Felix Plascencia is a career Venezuelan diplomat appointed as envoy to Washington to manage a fragile bilateral relationship with the United States. He previously served as foreign minister, deputy minister, and ambassador to the United Kingdom. Plascencia rose through competitive institutional mechanisms, obtaining diplomatic credentials in 1991 and holding degrees from the Central University of Venezuela, the University of Leuven, and New College, Oxford. He is politically and personally close to acting president Delcy Rodriguez and represents the remaining pro-government technocratic current. His mission in Washington includes reestablishing dialogue and channeling mutual interests amid unprecedented foreign oversight of Venezuelan authorities.

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