Carlos Pascual (diplomat)

Carlos Pascual
United States Ambassador to Mexico
In office
August 9, 2009 – March 19, 2011
President Barack Obama
Preceded by Tony Garza
Succeeded by Earl Anthony Wayne
United States Ambassador to Ukraine
In office
October 22, 2000 – May 1, 2003
President George W. Bush
Succeeded by John E. Herbst
Personal details
Born 1959 (age 52–53)
Havana, Cuba
Political party Democratic

Carlos Pascual (born 1959) is a Cuban-American diplomat and the former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and Ukraine.[1]

Contents

Education

Pascual attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente California and graduated in 1976. He then earned a B.A. from Stanford University in 1980 and an M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1982.

Career

Pascual worked for USAID from 1983 to 1995 in Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique, and as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia. From July 1998 to January 2000, Pascual served as Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and from 1995 to 1998 as Director for the same region, from October 2000 until August 2003, as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.[2][3]

He was then named Assistance Coordinator for Europe and Eurasia.[4] In 2004, he was named Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the US Department of State.[5]

Pascual then worked as Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution where he presided over the creation of the Brookings Doha Center and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center.

Selected by President Barack Obama as ambassador to Mexico, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 7, 2009.[3] He presented his credentials to the Mexican government on August 9, 2009[3] and personally to President Felipe Calderón on October 21, 2009.[6]

Pascual submitted his resignation as Ambassador to Mexico on March 19, 2011 in part due to tensions with Calderón.[7] Tensions with President Calderón arose as a result of the WikiLeaks release of diplomatic cables in which Pascual criticized the Mexican military’s ability or willingness to fight the Mexican drug cartels. Pascual is considered to be the first casualty of the Wikileaks affair.[8][9][10]

He was appointed the State Department's Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs in May 2011, succeeding David L. Goldwyn.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "Perfil Carlos Pascual, de Stanford y de Harvard a México" (in Spanish). El Universal. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/586468.html. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  2. ^ "Carlos Pascual". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/164148.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  3. ^ a b c "U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual". United States Department of State, U.S. Embassy Mexico City. http://mexico.usembassy.gov/eng/eBio_AMB.html. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  4. ^ "U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/p/eur/ace/index.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  5. ^ "Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/s/crs/. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  6. ^ "El narco es un problema serio: Pascual" (in Spanish). CNN Expansion. http://www.cnnexpansion.com/actualidad/2009/10/21/eu-ve-con-seriedad-problema-de-narco. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  7. ^ "Ambassador Carlos Pascual". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/03/158664.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  8. ^ "The Resignation of U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual". Center for Strategic & International Studies. http://csis.org/blog/resignation-us-ambassador-carlos-pascual. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  9. ^ "U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Resigns: Who is Carlos Pascual?". AllGov.com. http://www.allgov.com/Appointments_and_Resignations/ViewNews/US_Ambassador_to_Mexico_Resigns__Who_is_Carlos_Pascual_110320. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  10. ^ "Calderon: WikiLeaks caused severe damage to U.S.-Mexico relations". The Washington Post. 2011-03-04. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030302853.html. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  11. ^ "Ambassador Carlos Pascual Appointed Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/162842.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  12. ^ "Office of the Coordinator for International Energy Affairs". United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/s/ciea/. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Tony Garza		 U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
2009 – 2011		 Succeeded by
Earl Anthony Wayne
Preceded by
Steven Karl Pifer		 U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
2000 – 2003		 Succeeded by
John E. Herbst