Roger Noriega
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Roger Francisco Noriega (born 1959, Wichita, Kansas), has served as a U.S. diplomat and policy maker, specializing on Western Hemisphere Affairs. As Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs under President George W. Bush, Ambassador Noriega was responsible for managing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in the region. He was replaced by Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., in October 2005. Originally from Wichita, Kansas, he attended Washburn University in Topeka where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981. He is currently a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on Western Hemisphere issues.
Prior to becoming Assistant Secretary, Noriega served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2001 to 2003.
As Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Noriega was a major force behind the Bush Administration’s policy towards the government of Cuba. At the time of Posada Carriles' arrest in the U.S., Noriega stated that the charges against Mr Posada "may be a completely manufactured issue", and that Posada "might not have been in the United States".[1]
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. Noriega also served as the Senior Policy Advisor and Alternate U.S. Representative at the U.S. Mission to the OAS from 1990 through 1993, and as Senior Advisor for Public Information at the OAS from 1993 to 1994.
Other tours of duty in the Department of State have been with U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bureaus for Inter-American Affairs and Public Affairs, where he was a Program Officer from 1987 through 1990 and a Senior Writer/Editor from 1986 until 1987. Prior to that, he served as Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for Congressman Bob Whittaker (R-Kan.), U.S. House of Representatives, from 1983 until 1986. President Bush also appointed Noriega to the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation.
In December 2001, the Government of Peru decorated Ambassador Noriega as Grand Master of the Order of the Sun. In 2003, the President of Nicaragua invested Ambassador Noriega as a member of the Order of José de Marcoleta.
