Wanted: New U.S. chief of Latin American affairs

The announced departure of the top U.S. State Department official
in charge of Latin American affairs has sparked a debate in Washington
D.C. over who should replace him and whether there should be a change in
the Obama administration’s policies toward the region.

Arturo
Valenzuela, a Chilean-born Georgetown University professor who was
confirmed in his job in November 2009 after a long confirmation battle
in the U.S. Congress, announced that he will leave his post this summer
to return to academia. A political appointee, he has been the target of
strong criticism from Republicans in Congress.

His sudden
departure has triggered a debate over whether he should be replaced by a
more experienced career diplomat with better chances of quick
congressional approval, or by another political appointee closer to the
secretary of state and the White House.

Among career diplomats, well-placed congressional and diplomatic
sources tell me that there are two well-known envoys whose names are
circulating as the top contenders for the job: Ambassadors William
Brownfield and Anne W. Patterson.

Brownfield is the head of the
State Department’s International Narcotics bureau and was ambassador to
Colombia, Venezuela and Chile. Patterson is a former ambassador to
Pakistan, Colombia, El Salvador and acting ambassador to the United
Nations. In the mid 1990s, she was deputy assistant secretary for Latin
American affairs.

But Brownfield took over the State Department’s
International Drugs job only four months ago, and leaving now would
send a wrong message to the U.S. anti-drug bureaucracy, the sources tell
me. And Patterson is currently playing a key role in U.S. policy toward
Egypt and is likely to be appointed ambassador to Egypt, a key U.S.
foreign policy priority. It won’t be easy to take them off their current
posts, the sources say.

Other career officers who are mentioned
are U.S. ambassador to Thailand Christy Kenney, a former ambassador to
Ecuador who was also stationed in Argentina and Jamaica; Roberta S.
Jacobson, the current No. 2 at Valenzuela’s office, who was the State
Department director of Mexican affairs and deputy chief of mission at
the U.S. Embassy in Peru and coordinator for Cuban affairs. Current
ambassador to Colombia Michael McKinley is also being talked about,
congressional sources say.

Among political appointees, the field
is wide open. Two of the top contenders, former White House Latin
America advisor Nelson Cunningham and U.S. under-secretary of Commerce
Francisco Sanchez have told friends that they are not interested in the
job.

Supporters of the idea of naming a political appointee say
that some of the most critical issues in U.S.-Latin American relations —
such as the pending free-trade agreements with Colombia and Panama and
other problems that require congressional approval — require somebody
who knows how to work the U.S. political system.

But others argue
that it should be a career officer, in part, because the Obama
administration should try to avoid another long political fight with
Congress, such as the one it took to get Valenzuela confirmed. Now that
the Republicans have increased their representation in Congress,
Senators like Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., would make it
even more difficult to get a left-of-center Democrat confirmed, they
say.

My opinion: Barring surprises, Valenzuela is likely to be
succeeded by a State Department career officer because the Obama
administration will need somebody confirmed by the Senate as soon as
possible in order to start preparations for the April 2012 Summit of the
Americas in Cartagena.

Will the appointment of a new head of
Latin American affairs bring about any changes in U.S. policy toward
Latin America? It should. In my next column I will tell you why.