Former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story.
Although the announcement has not been made official, everything seems to be ready for the appointment of Michael Barkin as the new charge d'affaires of the United States for Venezuela. Barkin, a diplomat with experience at the United Nations, will serve from Bogota, Colombia, as has been the case for five years.
Barkin replaces James Story, who has been in Caracas since 2018, first as chargé d'affaires, and then, since 2020, as ambassador. Story and part of the staff of the US embassy in Venezuela went to Bogotá after the worsening of the Venezuelan political crisis, triggered by the disputed presidential re-election of Nicolás Maduro and the impeaching irruption of the president of the National Assembly at the time, Juan Guaidó. The transfer to Bogota was made after Washington judged the presence of US officials in Caracas inadmissible.
Nicolás Maduro had then given Story and the embassy staff 72 hours to leave the country, once the United States recognized Juan Guaidó as Interim President of the Republic. With a direct style, employing irony and speaking good Spanish, Story played an important role in the context of the country's crisis, providing assistance to some opponents persecuted by Chavismo, organizing political and diplomatic meetings on a solution to the Venezuelan crisis, and interacting with the Colombian president of that time, Iván Duque. Like almost all his predecessors, he was viewed with enormous suspicion and irritation by the Chavista leadership. On more than one occasion, Maduro once accused Story of meddling in conspiracies to overthrow him.
Barkin has not yet been granted ambassadorial status, a position that will have to be ratified or approved by the State Department. Before assuming the Office for Venezuelan Affairs in Bogotá, Barkin – a native of Florida, in the diplomatic service of his country since 1995 – was part of the US Mission to the United Nations, and represented the United States in the deliberations of the Security Council. He was Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs of the U.S. Mission to Canada; Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in El Salvador and Consul in Matamoros, Mexico. He has also had consular experiences in the Netherlands, Honduras, Uruguay, Kosovo and Bulgaria.
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