US ambassador Venezuela James Story Juan Guaido
US "virtual ambassador" to Venezuela James Story with Juan Guaidó
US virtual ambassador to Venezuela hosts insurrectionist summit ahead of
Bidens Guaidó recognition
ANYA PARAMPIL AND MAX BLUMENTHAL·MARCH 3, 2021
A closed-door Bogotá summit of fugitive Venezuelan insurrectionists
highlighted James Storys role as Washingtons manager of the radical
right-wing opposition. So who is the US virtual ambassador to Venezuela?
US virtual ambassador to Venezuela James Jimmy Story promised to answer
a series of questions sent to him by The Grayzone this February 24. But
after a Whatsapp exchange with this reporter during which Story offered to
explain why he regularly alternated between Gargamel and the Smurfs as his
avatar on the messaging app, the promised exchange never took place.
On March 2, Storys assistant, David Fogelson, informed The Grayzone that
the virtual ambassador wont be able to do the interview. He offered no
further details on Storys turnabout.
That same day, during a Zoom event with the Venezuelan American Association
of the US, Story boasted that his willingness to accept a few critical
questions from his online audience shows a transparency that the regime [in
Caracas] does not show.
The Grayzones unanswered questions to Story related to a closed-door summit
the ambassador hosted between February 19 and 26 at the Bogotá Marriott
hotel.
In a meeting at his home listed on the summits agenda, the ambassador
served up barbecued meats and fine libations to a group of fugitive
Venezuelan insurrectionists and far-right opposition leaders as they planned
the next phase of the US-backed regime-change operation against the elected
leftist government in Caracas.
The details of the meeting came to light after a Colombian official leaked
news of the meeting to Venezuelas government.
Here is the agenda from the meeting that someone from the Duque government,
angered that this is taking place on their soil, sent us, tweeted the
president of Venezuelas National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, on February 22.
The tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of a document which outlined the
itinerary of the conference, which was called Visit of the Venezuelan
Presidential Commission.
According to Rodríguez, the summits attendees included right-wing
opposition leader Leopoldo López, attorney and former lawmaker Julio Borges,
and former Exxon lawyer Carlos Vecchio, who now serves as ambassador for
Guaidó in Washington.
All three men are currently evading either criminal charges or prison
sentences in Venezuela for crimes ranging from incitement of violence to
participation in attempts to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro.
Following the delegates arrival to Bogotá, the first event listed on their
agenda was a welcome barbecue which took place on Sunday, February 21. Story
confirmed the cookout on his weekly Alo Embajador YouTube livestream,
noting that he roasted a pig. Joined by Juan Guaidó as his guest, Story
insisted that he did not serve 18-year-old whiskey, as the Colombian source
claimed to Rodríguez.
According to the agenda tweeted by Rodríguez, the Venezuelan coup-plotters
spent Monday, February 22, gathered at Storys residence. Topics for
discussion included how to encourage a transition from a position of
strength in Venezuela as well as the potential for unity among opposition
parties.
The week-long summit also allotted time for conversations exploring the
possibility of invoking the interventionist Responsibility to Protect
doctrine in order to justify the invasion of Venezuela under the guise of
humanitarian protection, as well as at least six meetings with Washington.
Insistent that a broad panoply of the opposition was on board with
Washingtons agenda, Story claimed to The Grayzone that 25 parties
participated in the conference.
Several US agencies were listed in agenda documents as participants in the
meetings. They included the State Departments Bureau of Western Hemisphere
Affairs; the State Department Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor;
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and the
White House National Security team. Think tanks were also listed as
participants, but were left unnamed.
The event highlighted Story as the Biden administrations de facto manager
of the radical wing of Venezuelas opposition that seeks regime change at
all costs. The apparent outcome of the meeting suggested he has played a
pivotal role in ensuring continuity between the Trump and Biden
administrations on Venezuela.
On March 2, a week after the summit in Bogotá, US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken formally recognized Juan Guaidó as Interim President, endorsing
the maximalist Trump policy that rejected negotiations or any accommodation
with Venezuelas elected, UN-recognized President Nicolás Maduro.
Despite his central role in the Venezuelan regime-change scheme, Story has
escaped the international scrutiny that other US officials like former State
Department liaison to Venezuela Elliott Abrams have received. Storys
backstory may be less intriguing than that of Abrams, and certainly less
sordid. However, he has been at the forefront of the US infiltration of
South America, and helped set the stage for the assault on Venezuelan
sovereignty through his participation in the Plan Colombia
counter-insurgency campaign that consolidated Bogotá as a right-wing base of
US influence.
Portraits of a putschist
James Storys official title is US ambassador to Venezuela, though he has
not worked inside the country since March of 2019. He is currently based in
neighboring Colombia, where he coordinates Washingtons efforts to overthrow
the Maduro government from within the US embassy in Bogotá.
In his official biography, he is described as a career Senior Foreign
Service Officer with experience working in Afghanistan, Mozambique, Mexico,
and Brazil.
Following a three-year stint as the US Consulate General in Rio, Story moved
to Caracas in July of 2018 to serve as deputy chargé d affaires. The
Venezuelan government had expelled chargé daffaires Todd Robinson in May of
that year, making Story the highest ranking US official in Venezuela.
Within six months of Storys arrival in Venezuela, in January of 2019, the
US announced its recognition of Juan Guaidó, a previously unknown opposition
lawmaker, as president. As he worked to propel the coup, Story got close and
personal with the self-proclaimed interim president and other opposition
leaders.
On March 3, 2019, Story posted a photo to his Facebook profile showing
himself on a friendly hike with former presidential candidate and rightist
opposition figure Henrique Capriles Radonski during his time in Caracas.
Climbed the Avila today with former Mayor, Governor, and Presidential
candidate Henrique Capriles, Story declared.
The Venezuelan people love him, Story enthused.
The following afternoon, Story posted a photo he took of Guaidó standing on
top of a car surrounded by supporters with the caption, Venezuelas Interim
President Juan Guaidó is back.
Guaidó was returning from a regional tour during which he participated in a
failed attempt to violate Venezuelas sovereignty by ramming a convoy of
USAID trucks across the countrys border. Storys photo shows him in close
proximity to the self-proclaimed president, and suggests he played a role
in shepherding Guaidó from place to place.
Two weeks after publishing the photo, on March 11, Venezuelan Foreign
Minister Jorge Arreaza informed Story that US diplomatic staff were no
longer welcome in the country.
Storys attraction to toppling leftist leaders was not limited to Venezuela.
When a far-right military coup drove Bolivias elected president, Evo
Morales, out of the country, destroyed his house, burned his sisters home,
poisoned his dogs, and orchestrated a national campaign of terror against
his supporters, Story took to Facebook to celebrate the anti-democratic
putsch.
In March 2020, Story promoted the multimillion-dollar bounty the Trump
administration placed on the heads of Venezuelan President Maduro and
several political allies on the dubious grounds that they were leaders of a
previously unknown and likely non-existent drug cartel allegedly called
Cartel of the Suns.
The photos remain on Storys Facebook page as mementos of his proud role as
de facto manager of the radical figures vaulted by the US to the helm of
Venezuelas opposition, and of his own dedication to regime change by any
means.
When appearing in the US media, however, Story assumes a dramatically
different image as a Southern gentleman with a careful, diplomatic touch.
APs February 1, 2019 puff piece of James Story
Behind the puff pieces, Storys real role comes to light
In a glowing profile of James Story, whom it billed as a steely huntsman at
helm of embattled US Embassy in Caracas, the Associated Press proclaimed
that the diplomats down-home Southern charm has opened doors.
In a rare feat for U.S. diplomats in Venezuela, who are usually ensconced
in the hilltop U.S. Embassy compound liaising with opposition politicians,
gushed the AP, Story has managed to establish a rapport with a number of
powerful Venezuelan government officials, all the while gingerly
sidestepping the political minefield running through anti-Maduro Miami that
has made engagement a risky endeavor for any U.S. official. He also won the
respect of his staff by joining the embassys softball team within days of
arrival.
Since his expulsion from Venezuela in March 2019, Story has worked out of
the US embassy in Bogotá under a variety of titles, with former US President
Donald Trump most recently appointing him to serve as ambassador to
Venezuela in May of 2020.
Due to the US continued recognition of Guaidó despite his failure to
secure control of Venezuelas government or even unite the countrys
fractured opposition no official diplomatic ties currently exist between
Caracas and Washington. Until news of the recent summit of Venezuelan
fugitives in Bogotá came to light, Storys duties as virtual ambassador to
Venezuela based in Colombia remained shrouded in mystery.
In its fawning portrait of Story, the AP quoted his former boss, US diplomat
John Feeley, as saying he can deftly sip cocktails with the diplomats but
his heart is still somewhere duck-hunting in an early morning blind.
Story brought his interest in foreign intrigue together with his passion for
southern hospitality by serving up platters of grilled pork to a crew of
fire-breathing coup leaders gathered at his home in Bogotá. But Storys
talents extended beyond charming the representatives of Latin American
oligarchy, and into the murky world of drug wars and paramilitary
repression.
A drug warrior defends bombing peasants with chemical weapons
Perhaps the most disturbing yet little known detail in James Storys
biography relates to his time working out of the US embassy in Colombia.
For roughly 25 years, the US oversaw an aerial fumigation program in
Colombia, spraying approximately 4.4 million acres of its land with the
cancer-causing herbicide known as glyphosate. (In the US, this substance is
known as RoundUp. Its manufacturer, Monsanto, has paid out $10 billion to
settle a class action lawsuit filed by cancer victims.)
The aerial crop eradication policy had a devastating impact on Colombias
rural population. Thousands of people are estimated to have been forced to
flee their homes as a result of the fumigations, while people living in
affected areas report[ed] skin, respiratory and gastrointestinal issues
according to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).
In addition to impacts on human health, environmental damages are also
rampant. Spraying has led to massive crop loss, CIEL added. Residual spray
has led to chemical seepage into groundwater and aquifers. The destruction
of non-targeted plants has damaged some of the most biologically diverse
regions, jeopardizing their very existence.
In 2011, CNN featured a rare report exposing the US aerial fumigation
programs role in destroying the livelihoods of Colombian farmers. The CNN
segment covered a documentary about Avelardo Joya, one of the 3.5 million
Colombians internally displaced under the US governments Plan Colombia
counter-insurgency campaign.
The US crop eradication policy ruined Joyas cacao and plantain farm, making
him a refugee in his own country.
Theyve destroyed our food, Joya lamented to the filmmakers. Thats the
only thing they destroy, because our food crops cannot resist the poison
they drop.
To balance its report, CNN managed to find one voice willing to speak
positively about the fumigation program. It belonged to the current US
virtual ambassador to Venezuela.
The aerial eradication program run by the government of Colombia has been
extraordinarily successful, Story proclaimed from within the comfort of his
air-conditioned office, where he worked at the time as director of the
narcotic affairs section of the US embassy.
Story went on to claim the policy resulted in a 40 percent drop in coca
cultivation, while admitting, there is some drift that happens with regard
to neighboring farms.
The full CNN segment featuring Storys comments is embedded below:
According to the US embassys website, its narcotic affairs section in
Colombia advises the Ambassador on counternarcotics policy and works in
close coordination with DOJ, DHS, and U.S. military counterparts.
The US virtual ambassador to Venezuela has been marketed as an affable
Southern gentleman, and theres little reason to doubt he can serve up a
lip-smacking rack of ribs. But the real story about Story lies behind the
media-crafted image of the steely huntsman, and in the bowels of the US
national security architecture, where coups are hatched, puppets are
groomed, and peasants are transformed into refugees by the millions.