Dodd Eyed as Ambassador to Cuba
Dodd Eyed as Ambassador to Cuba
Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has been floated as a leading candidate to be ambassador to Cuba, Foreign Policy reports.
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U.S. to Reopen Embassy in Cuba, for Now Without an Ambassador
That the United States is finally ready to reopen its embassy in Cuba comes as little surprise; U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration had hoped to plant its diplomatic flag in Havana back in April, more than a half-century since the two nations severed relations. But Obama’s announcement Wednesday was absent a salient detail: a decision on who will serve as the ambassador.
For months, U.S. officials and experts believed career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, had the inside track on the ambassador post in Cuba. But in recent days, former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has been floated as a potential leading candidate for a job that will be among the highest-profile State Department missions for the rest of Obama’s term. Dodd was an early proponent of relaxing sanctions on Cuba.
A senior administration official did not immediately respond when asked whether Dodd was on the shortlist, and several officials said a decision about who would serve as ambassador was not imminent.
Obama announced the embassy openings in brief remarks to reporters in the White House Rose Garden about an hour after Cuba’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it will unshutter its diplomatic mission in Washington. The moves are part of an effort, to be formalized July 20, to broaden diplomatic relations between the two nations, which cut their ties in 1961.
Obama quoted former President Dwight Eisenhower, who expressed hope when he closed the U.S. Embassy in Havana 54 years ago that normal relations would be re-established “in the not-too-distant future.”
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https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/30/u-s-to-re-open-embassy-in-cuba-for-now-without-an-ambassador/
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