Otto Reich

Otto Juan Reich (born October 16, 1945), a Cuban-American, is former senior official in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. He has been Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Ambassador to Venezuela, Assistant Administrator of the US Agency for International Development and the President's Special Envoy for the Western Hemisphere. Otto Reich, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Bush Administration Source: http://uruguay. ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967 – 1975). ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...

Reich was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere in January 2002, and served under a recess appointment. In 2003 Bush then appointed him US Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere. Since leaving the White House in 2004, he has headed his own international consulting firm, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, based in Washington, D.C.[1].

Early years

Reich was born in Cuba to a Cuban Catholic mother and an Austrian-Jewish father, Walter Reich, whose parents died in the Holocaust and who had fled Austria in 1938. His father was trying to reach the United States but he remained in Havana, where he settled down, got married, and sold furniture. At age 14, Otto Reich, raised in his mother's Catholic faith left with his family for the US as refugees a year and half after Fidel Castro came to power. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Holocaust (disambiguation) and Shoah (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of Cuba. ... For the UK band, see Furniture (band). ... Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born on August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba but on indefinite medical hiatus. ...

In 1966, Reich received a B.A. in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1967 to 1969, as a paratroop officer, he served as a Civil Affairs officer in the US Army in the Panama Canal Zone. He was awarded the US Army's Commendation Medal. A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. ... The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... The Panama Canal Zone (Spanish: ), was a 553 square mile (1,432 km²) territory inside of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles (8. ...

After receiving a M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University in 1973, Reich worked as a staff assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, an international representative for the Florida Department of Commerce, Community Development Coordinator for the City of Miami, and later Washington Director of the Council of the Americas. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Georgetown University is an elite private research university located in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., United States. ... The House of Representatives is the larger of two houses that make up the U.S. Congress, the other being the United States Senate. ... This article is about the city in Florida. ... The Council of the Americas is a American business organization whose stated goal is promoting free trade and open markets throughout the Americas. ...

From 1981 to 1983, Reich was Assistant Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in charge of US economic assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1991 and 1992, at the request of President George H. W. Bush, Reich served as Deputy US Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. The United States Agency for International Development (or USAID) is the US government organization responsible for most non-military foreign aid. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... United Nations Commission on Human Rights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German:   //, Italian: Ginevra //, Romansh: Genevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ...

Main article: Office of Public Diplomacy

Ad placed by the Young Republicans, one of the groups under the cognizance of the Office of Public Diplomacy and discussed by Oliver North in a March 20, 1985 memorandum. ...

Office of Public Diplomacy

From 1983 to 1986, Reich established and managed the inter-agency Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean. The OPD declassified Central Intelligence Agency information and disseminated it to influence public opinion and spur Congress to continue to fund the Reagan's administration's campaign against Nicaragua's Sandinista government. The OPD was highly controversial and was criticized by numerous government sources, including a staff report by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which characterized it as a domestic political and propaganda operation.[2] In 1987, an investigation by the Comptroller General determined that the OPD engaged in "prohibited, covert propaganda activities, beyond the range of acceptable agency public information activities". The OPD also violated “a restriction on the State Department’s annual appropriations prohibiting the use of federal funds for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress.”^[1] Ad placed by the Young Republicans, one of the groups under the cognizance of the Office of Public Diplomacy and discussed by Oliver North in a March 20, 1985 memorandum. ... “CIA” redirects here. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967 – 1975). ... Sandinista! is also the name of a popular music album by The Clash. ... The United States Comptroller General is the director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) (formerly known as the General Accounting Office), a government agency founded in 1921 to ensure the accountability of the federal government. ...

Ambassadorship and Corporate Career

From 1986 to 1989, Reich served as Ambassador to Venezuela. For this service he received the State Department's Superior Honor Award, the Meritorious Serice Award and the Republic of Venezuela's Order of the Liberator, the highest honor conferred by that nation. From 1989 to 2001, Reich worked as a corporate advisor to clients such as Bell Atlantic, McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co., AT&T, Bacardi, British American Tobacco, and Lockheed Martin, which sought to sell F-16 fighter aircraft to Chile. He also reportedly helped draft the Helms-Burton Act which tightened the embargo of Cuba. Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States and used by dozens of countries all over the world. ... The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996 (better known as the Helms-Burton Act) is a United States federal law which strengthens and continues the United States embargo against Cuba. ...

ministration officials and anonymous sources acknowledged meeting with some of the planners of the coup in the several weeks prior to April 11, but have strongly denied encouraging the coup itself, saying that they insisted on constitutional means. [3] Because of allegations, Sen. Christopher Dodd requested a review of US activities leading up to and during the coup attempt. The OIG report found no wrongdoing by US officials either in the State Department or in the US Embassy. ^[2]

According to a report in The New York Times, Reich warned Congressional aides that there was more at stake in Venezuela than the success or failure of Chávez. He accused Chávez of meddling with the historically independent state oil company, providing haven to Colombian guerrillas and bailing out Cuba with preferential rates on oil. He also said the administration had received reports that "foreign paramilitary forces"-- which they suspected to be Cubans -— were involved in the bloody suppression of anti-Chávez demonstrators, in which at least fourteen people were killed.[4] The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

The United States, which had acknowledged the de facto government, did not condemn the coup until Chávez had been restored to power. ^[3]

Other activities

In 2002, not long after he was appointed as Special Envoy, Reich was also nominated to serve on the board of the controversial Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, better known as the School of the Americas.[5][6] Former logo of the School of Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Georgia The Western Hemisphere Institute for American Hegemony (WHISC or WHINSEC), formerly School of the Assassins (SOA; Spanish: Escuela de las Américas), is a United States Army facility at Fort Benning...

He also served as vice-chairman of Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP), an employers' organization which monitors the use of sweatshops. [7]. Sweatshop is a pejorative term used to describe a manufacturing facility where working conditions fall short of contemporary human-rights standards. ...

From 1998 to 2001, Reich was co-host of CNN International’s “Choque de Opiniones,” a Spanish-language version of CNN’s “Crossfire.” He appears regularly on US and Latin American media.

Notes

External links

• Otto J. Reich at the Notable Names Database
• Otto Reich Associates, LLC
• Official State Department biography
• Otto Reich Testimony before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere May 25, 2005 VIDEO: http://boss.streamos.com/real/hir/34_wh052505.smi
• "Bush Envoy Puts Latin Post, and a Stormy Past, Behind Him", New York Times, June 17, 2004
• "Otto Reich: A Career in Disservice", Council on Hemispheric Affairs, July 13, 2004
• Interviews on YouTube
• State Department OIG report on attempted Venezuelan Coup