Jimmy Story, U.S. envoy for Venezuelan affairs, will depart his post

James “Jimmy” Story, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuelan affairs, is leaving his post later this month, two U.S. officials told McClatchy.

Story, a career foreign service officer, has been serving as the U.S. envoy on Venezuela, with offices in Bogotá, Colombia, ever since the government of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas severed ties with Washington in 2019.

“Ambassador Story will be leaving his position as the U.S. Ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on May 19,” a State Department official said. “We commend Ambassador Story’s five years at the helm of our U.S. Mission to Venezuela, longer than the norm in such a diplomatic position, and his tireless commitment to restoring democracy in Venezuela.”

“While we are not physically in Venezuela, we are always present and working towards a return to democracy in the country,” the official added.

Story served as the top U.S. diplomat to Venezuela out of Bogotá given the Maduro regime’s decision to break ties with the United States following then-President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

While in Bogotá, Story maintained close ties with representatives of the Venezuelan opposition, but also played an important role in U.S. diplomatic efforts last year to re-engage the Caracas socialist regime in a new round of talks aiming to seek a negotiated solution to the Venezuelan crisis.

A number of meetings between high-ranking State Department officials and regime members, including Maduro, led among other things to the release of a number of American citizens deemed to have been jailed unjustly in Venezuela and the release of two of Maduro’s nephews who were sentenced in New York under drug trafficking charges.

Story participated in some of the talks held in Caracas during the first half of 2022, which also led to the Biden administration granting a new license to U.S. oil company Chevron to operate more freely inside the U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela and for Maduro to pledge that the regime would resume negotiations with opposition leaders organized in Mexico. Those talks later stalled, however.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.