By Scott Smith - The Associated Press
The nomination of diplomat James Story as US ambassador to Venezuela was confirmed Wednesday in a vote by acclamation in the Senate, making him the first ambassador appointed to that country in the last decade.
The official will carry out his duties from Bogotá, the capital of neighboring Colombia, while Venezuela suffers a historic economic and political crisis.
Story, 50, a native of South Carolina, had already served as South Carolina's Charge d'Affaires,
and now could play a key role in helping guide US policy in Venezuela during President-elect Joe Biden's transition. .
Relations between the two nations have a long and complicated past that includes the victory of the government of Donald Trump in obtaining charges against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, for alleged narco-terrorism.
Biden's victory has sparked a debate between those who support Trump's tough approach in isolating Maduro and those who say it is time to take a new course.
Critics allege that
heavy sanctions have failed to get Maduro out of power
and opened the country to Washington's competitors such as China, Russia and Iran, as well as complicating the daily lives of millions of residents in the South American nation.
Interview with Leopoldo López: "If there are elections and Maduro participates, he would have no problems"
Nov. 11, 202005: 05
[Leopoldo López in an interview with Noticias Telemundo: "Our main mistake was to create expectations of change in the short term"]
The United States and Venezuela have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, when their relations began to deteriorate under the presidency of Hugo Chávez.
The complete severing of diplomatic ties came last year, with diplomats withdrawing from each other
shortly after Washington endorsed opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country's legitimate leader.
The United States leads a coalition of dozens of countries that rejected Maduro after his re-election for a second term in 2018
in a vote widely viewed as a fraud
because the most popular leaders of the opposition were barred from running.
Since then, the United States has imposed harsh sanctions on Maduro, his inner circle and the state oil company in a bid to isolate them.
The Trump administration offered a reward of 15 million dollars for the arrest of the Venezuelan president
after a US court charged him with drug trafficking offenses.
In Venezuela they avoid COVID-19 tests for fear of poor conditions in shelters and hospitals
Aug. 30, 202001: 44
[The UN accuses the Maduro regime of crimes against humanity and urges the International Criminal Court to act]
A media diplomat
Story, a career diplomat nominated by Trump in May, has served as embassy affairs manager, who is the official who leads a mission in the absence of an ambassador.
His career has taken him to Mexico, Brazil, Mozambique, and Afghanistan.
Today, he leads a depleted team in a virtual embassy in Bogotá (due to the pandemic).
Despite the challenge of working from outside of Venezuela,
Story holds a weekly 30-minute conversation via Facebook in an attempt to maintain ties with millions of Venezuelans
in his country or with those who have fled the crisis.
The diplomat responds, in fluent Spanish, to the questions of both Venezuelans and the few Americans who are still there, addressing the latest intrigues and disturbances that arise in the country and in the United States Sometimes he expresses himself in English with a marked accent from South Carolina.
[The United States promotes a political transition plan for Venezuela]
Story points to Maduro and his collaborators for what critics define as an increasingly authoritarian government and for the corrupt practices that are blamed for the destruction of the once prosperous oil sector, which has left the country in ruins.
"Look, this is not a true democracy
," Story said in an online chat this year, later criticizing Venezuelan officials whose families lead luxurious lives in Spain and Panama while the majority of the population is in poverty.
"Yes, they are cheating."