Jorge Toledo is a survivor. He believes his personal experiences with abduction and enforced disappearance in Venezuela made him a better and stronger person. Though he’s experienced many trials, he remains the epitome of not allowing circumstances to stop you and creating lasting opportunities from them.
After Toledo’s frightening ordeal, he has used his story to advocate for hostages and political prisoners, working to raise awareness about hostage diplomacy. Toledo’s story can be experienced in full through his upcoming memoir, “1,775 Days of Captivity–Survival and Growth.”
Toledo is a former oil and gas senior executive. He spent nearly forty years improving organizations in this field, motivating teams to reach superior performance levels in global operations and multinational business protocols. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) from the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Venezuela, and an MBA and a Specialization in International Business from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Toledo is also an avid runner and has participated in marathons in New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris. All of these experiences helped him survive his 1,775 days of captivity in Venezuela.
On November 21, 2017, Toledo became the victim of an abduction and enforced disappearance in Venezuela. He was used as a hostage for foreign policy leverage and coercion by the Venezuelan government over the United States. The 1,775-day-long journey spent in two of the most notorious prisons in the world was described as brutal, extreme, and atrocious.
Toledo’s ordeal concluded on October 1, 2022, through a prisoner swap between the United States government and the Venezuelan regime. After his release from captivity, Toledo did the unexpected. Instead of shying away from public attention, he harnessed his strength and chose to speak out about his traumatic experience.
Today, Toledo is an active public speaker who uses his survival experience to help motivate others and advocate for hostages and political prisoners. He leverages his experience motivating teams in the oil and gas industry and incorporates his near-death experience in Venezuela to captivate audiences.
Toledo is proud of using his voice to raise awareness about a new threat to the civilized world: hostage diplomacy. He was used as a political pawn by the Venezuelan regime, and subjected to years of isolation. Toledo felt that his two options were to die in prison or return to society as a burden. He chose to do neither by actively advocating for other political prisoners, hostages, and potential victims. Toledo acknowledges the horror of his experience while rising above it and becoming a stronger man than he was before.
But Toledo chose to work toward even more than his motivational speaking and advocacy. He wanted to tell his story in a complete way that would reach even more people and decided to write his story down in a book. The work is currently in progress, and “1,775 Days of Captivity–Survival and Growth” is sure to be a best-seller when it hits shelves. Toledo’s incredible story, combined with his unique perspective, will strive to keep readers engaged and inspired. His journey of survival was bleak, but his life is just beginning.