A new face at the reins of US diplomacy toward Latin America
Last edited Fri Sep 13, 2019, 08:56 PM - Edit history (1)
Luis Alonso Lugo and Joshua Goodman, Associated Press Updated 12:00 pm CDT, Friday, September 13, 2019
Photo: Jose Luis Magana, AP
FILE - In this March 13, 2019 file photo, Michael Kozak, ambassador for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor speaks during the release of the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at the Department of State in Washington. The State Department announced Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, that Kozak will take over responsibility for the Western Hemisphere department a month after Kimberly Breier resigned.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The new acting head of U.S. diplomacy toward Latin America is a seasoned envoy who once floated the idea of going into Chile unilaterally to snatch a politically powerful general who was behind the murder of a leftist politician in Washington in the 1970s.
The State Department announced Thursday that Michael Kozak will take over responsibility for the Western Hemisphere department a month after Kimberly Breier resigned.
The appointment suggests the U.S. will continue to pursue a hard line against socialist Venezuela, even after President Donald Trump fired hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, saying there were strong disagreements over Iran, Afghanistan and a cascade of other global challenges. Kozak has been deputy to Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy on Venezuela, and played a major role in shaping U.S. policy on Venezuela this year.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director of Human Rights Watch, said that throughout his long career focused mainly on Latin America Kozak has earned a reputation as a strategic thinker and forceful doer.
"He's among that rare breed of American diplomats who are fully aware of the U.S.' unique power and responsibility to use its muscle to promote democracy and human rights," said Vivanco. "That's been his mantra for decades."
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/A-new-face-at-the-reins-of-US-diplomacy-toward-14436470.php
LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142367411
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