US appoints first Venezuela ambassador in a decade amid tensions

The United States has appointed its first ambassador for Venezuela in a decade notwithstanding Washington having no diplomats at its Caracas embassy amid a decline in connections.

James Story’s appointment as ambassador was approved on Wednesday by a US Senate voice vote.

The South Carolina native takes the job that he will move out from the capital of neighbouring Colombia as Venezuela remains a historic economic and political crisis.

The US and Venezuela had not appointed ambassadors since 2010 when relationships first began to fray under late President Hugo Chávez.

The two countries totally broke diplomatic ties last year, each switching its diplomats quickly after Washington retreated Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s leader.

The story, 50, will likely play a pivotal role in maintaining guide US policy on Venezuela through the transformation of President-elect Joe Biden.

Biden’s victory has sparked a discussion between those who back President Donald Trump’s hardline passageway of separating his Venezuelan equivalent Nicolas Maduro and others who declare it is time for a new direction.

The experts say large penalties have abandoned to remove Maduro from power, opening Venezuela to US rivals such as China, Russia and Iran, while making life harder on millions of citizens of the South American nation.

The US heads a combination of dozens of nations that refused Maduro following his election in 2018 to the next term in a vote Washington called fraudulently.

The US has since gradually endorsed Maduro, his inner circle and the state-run oil firm, endeavouring to separate them.

The Trump administration proposed a $15m compensation for Maduro’s detention after a US court charged him on drug charges.