Highlights
& Quotes
The Bush administration’s decision to nominate Otto Reich as assistant secretary of state for hemisphere affairs was regarded as one its more serious nomination blunders. Without putting too fine a point on it, Reich is viewed with disdain throughout much of the Americas.
An anti-Castro fanatic who was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal as a result of his work in Ronald Reagan’s Office of Public Diplomacy, the propaganda outfit that was charged with planting op-eds in newspapers that disparaged critics of the administration’s Latin American policies and lauded Contra leaders, Reich’s nomination was roundly criticized. The San Antonio Express-News opined: "Like a disturbing dream from a not-so-distant past, he floats up out of a time when Ollie North was running guns to the Nicaraguan Contras and Robert McFarlane was bearing a key, a cake, and a Bible to stiff-necked Iranian ayatollahs." (3)
In 2002, not long after he was reappointed as special envoy to the western hemisphere, Reich was also nominated to serve on the board of the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation, better known as the School of the Americas, the U.S. Army’s training ground for Latin American dictators and world-class human rights violators, like Manuel Noriega and Argentina’s Leopoldo Galtieri. Said Fr. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the crusading School of the Americas Watch, of Reich’s nomination: “This only renews our conviction that this school of coups, torturers and assassins must be closed down for good.” (4)
Regarding Reich’s business associations, Alex Dubro reported in Foreign Policy in Focus: “In recent years, Reich has also associated himself with some of America's least favorite industries: liquor, tobacco, and armaments. He's a lobbyist for Bacardi, British American Tobacco, and Lockheed Martin.
But a new wrinkle has arisen in Otto Reich's suspect resume. He is the vice-chairman of Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production or WRAP, a clothing industry front founded in June 2000 to undermine the growing anti-sweatshop movement. Reich joined WRAP at its inception, associating himself with an operation that connects some of the unsavory elements of the cold war with a new, PR-driven approach to sustaining non-union sweatshop production.” (3)
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Institutional
Affiliations
Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas): Member of the Board of Visitors (4)
Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production: Vice-Chairman (3)
Council of the Americas: Washington Director (1)
Government
Service
U.S. Department of State: Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere (2002-current); Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2001-2002); U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela (1986-1989) (1)
United Nations Human Rights Commission: Alternate U.S. Representative (1991-1992) (1)
U.S. Department of State Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean: Special Adviser to the Secretary (1983-1986) (2)
U.S. Agency for International Development: Assistant Administrator (1981-1983) (1)
City of Miami, Florida: Community Development Coordinator (1)
Florida Department of Commerce: International Representative (1)
U.S. House of Representatives: Staff Assistant (1)
U.S. Army: Lieutenant (1967-1969) (1)
Corporate Connections/Business Interests
Brock Group: Partner (1989-2001) (1)
Education
University of North Carolina: Bachelor’s degree in international studies (1)
Georgetown University: Master’s degree in Latin American studies (1)
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