Roger Noriega

Roger Francisco Noriega (born 1959), a Mexican-American, is an official in the administration of President George W. Bush who holds the post of Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, a position to which he was appointed on 29 July 2003. He is noted for his hardline stance against Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Noriega born in in Wichita, Kansas. He attended Washburn University in Topeka where he received a B.A. in 1981. From 1983 until 1986, Noriega as press secretary and legislative assistant to Congressman Bob Whittaker (R-Kan.), U.S. House of Representatives.

From 1987 to 1990, Noreiga worked for the Agency for International Development, where he was program manager of "Non-Lethal" Aid to Central America. After Congress prohibited US military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, both the Pentagon and USAID established "humanitarian aid offices" in the region. This subsequent "humanitarian aid" was thought to have been delivered to the Contras by right-wing evangelical and political groups, working closely with the Reagan administration officials. It was later determined that Noriega was directly in charge of channeling this aid to the Contras — a times laundering the money through an operative of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel residing in Miami.³

From 1990 to 1993, Noriega served as senior advisor for public information at the Organization of American States. From 1993 to 1994, he as the senior policy advisor and alternate US representative at the US Mission to the OAS.

From 1994 to 1997, Noriega returned to Capitol Hill as a senior staff member New York Congressman Benjamin Gilman for the House Committee on International Relations. Subsequently, he became a senior staff member of Senator Jesse Helms for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In 1996, Noriega helped draft the Helms-Burton law which tightened the 40-year-old embargo on Cuba.

In 2000, Noriega played a key role in engineering the fall of Haiti's elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Noriega was a vocal critic of the Aristide government and circulated demands for the removal of Aristide at the OAS. After the US helped to overthrow him, Noriega quickly applauded the ascension of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who came to office despite the fact that he was living in Florida at the time and was therefore ineligible for the presidency under Haitian constitutional law. Amid rampant violence and chaos, Noriega celebrated the overthrow of Haiti's government, stating to Congress: "Now we can make a new beginning in helping Haiti to build a democracy that respects the rule of law and protects the human rights of its citizens." ⁷

From 2001 to 2003, Noriega served as US permanent representative to the OAS. Noriega was nominated by Bush for his current post in March 2003; he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 29, 2003. Noriega is responsible for managing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in the region.

In 2002, Noriega publicly clashed with Secretary of States Colin Powell when he applauded the short-lived coup d'état in Venezuela, forcing Powell to distance himself from Noriega's comments after Hugo Chávez was returned to power.⁸

Noriega has been a major force behind the Bush Administration's campaign to oust Fidel Castro. In 2004, when new measures to tighten the embargo against the island-outlined were introduced, Noriega announced plans "to bring an end to the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and to prepare to assist a post-Castro Cuba". The new measures included increased support for Cuban dissidents, further restrictions on travel and remittances to the island, stepped-up propaganda.

References

1. Official State Department biography

2. Profile, International Relations Center

3. "Roger Noriega — Washington’s Man in :4. Latin America", Tanya I. Garcia, Americas Program, February 24, 2005

5. "What Roger Noriega Really Means", Toni Solo, Counterpunch, 10 July 2004

6. "No Relief: Lackluster cold warriors bungle Latin American policy", by Martin Austermuhle, In These Times, 4 April 2003

7. "Bush Administration Backed the Ouster of Aristide", Ron Howell, Newsday, 2 March 1999

8. "Rice's Imminent Confirmation Bad News for Latin America", Jessica Leight, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, January 25, 2005