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Feeley's departure had been communicated to State Department
officials on Dec. 27 and was not a response to Trump's alleged
use of the word "shithole" to describe Haiti and African
countries at a meeting on Thursday, U.S. officials said.
Trump denies using the term.
Feeley, one of the department's Latin America specialists and
among its senior most officers, made clear that he had come to a
place where he no longer felt able to serve under Trump.
"As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve
faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical
fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies,"
Feeley said, according to an excerpt of a resignation letter
read to Reuters on Friday.
"My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do
that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come."
A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Feeley's departure,
saying that he "has informed the White House, the Department of
State, and the Government of Panama of his decision to retire
for personal reasons, as of March 9 of this year."
Speaking to reporters, Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein
said he was aware of Feeley's planned departure on Thursday
morning, before Trump's alleged use of the vulgar term, and said
the ambassador was leaving for "personal reasons."
"Everyone has a line that they will not cross," "Goldstein told
reporters at the State Department. "If the ambassador feels that
he can no longer serve ... then he has made the right decision
for himself and we respect that."
U.S. officials declined to discuss Feeley's reasons for leaving
the department after a long career, much of which was spent
working on Latin American issues.
Some of Trump's policies have been widely regarded within the
region as hostile to Latin America.
The Trump administration has taken a tougher stance on
immigration from Latin America, most notably with moves to expel
hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and
Nicaragua who benefited from temporary protection status after
natural disasters.
Feeley's career included serving as the No. 2 official in the
State Department bureau that deals with Latin America, as deputy
chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and as
director for Central American affairs in Washington.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; editing by Tom Brown)
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