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WASHINGTON — <\/span>The Trump administration has notified Congress that it is taking the first steps to possibly reopen the shuttered U.S. Embassy in Venezuela as it explores restoring relations with the South American country following the U.S. military raid<\/a> that ousted then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a notice to lawmakers dated Monday and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the State Department said it was sending in a regular and growing contingent of temporary staffers to conduct \u201cselect\u201d diplomatic functions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are writing to notify the committee of the Department of State\u2019s intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume Embassy Caracas operations,\u201d the department said in separate but identical letters to 10 House and Senate committees. <\/p>\n The notification, sent to Capitol Hill just two days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio i<\/a> s due to testify on Venezuela before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the staffers would live and work in a temporary facility while the existing embassy compound is brought up to standard. <\/p>\n It is the first formal notice of the administration\u2019s intent to re-open the embassy in Caracas. Such a move would be key to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which have been broken since March 2019 when the embassy was shuttered.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has moved slowly but surely to try to normalize ties with Maduro’s successor and current acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a>. However, doing so would require the U.S. to revoke its decision to recognize the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015 as the legitimate government.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez on Tuesday said her government and the Trump administration \u201chave established respectful and courteous channels of communication\u201d since Jan. 3, when Maduro was captured. <\/p>\n She did not address the U.S. government\u2019s first steps to possibly reopen its embassy, but during her televised remarks from a public hospital tour, Rodr\u00edguez said she is working with President Donald Trump and Rubio to set \u201ca working agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n