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Mar 19, 2015 Congressional hearing probes Iranian reach in Latin AmericaReaction from Amb. Roger Noriega, former US ambassador to the Organization of American States

Ambassador Roger Noriega discusses the growing relationship between Venezuela Strong man Hugo Chavez and Honduran President Lobo and his shift towards 21st century socialism.

Followers of cancer-stricken strongman Hugo Chávez are stunned after nearly 3 million Venezuelans voted Sunday to select a unity candidate to compete in presidential elections scheduled for October. Venezuelan democrats are unified and optimistic today, but Chávez and his henchmen already have made their moves to hold on to power at all costs. If the opposition has any real hope of defeating Chavismo, they will have to be prepared for dirty tricks, provocations, and even a narco-coup in the months ahead. Miranda Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski won the opposition primary with over 60 percent of the vote, after a spirited...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will be committed during his second term to the ``liberation of Cuba'' by extending moral and political support to the Cuban people, a top State Department official said Friday. Roger Noriega, who heads the department's Latin American bureau, also said that once Fidel Castro is no longer in power, the United States is ready to support broad economic and political reform in Cuba ``to ensure that vestiges of the regime don't hold on.'' Noriega noted that Washington has a blueprint for providing social, economic and other types of assistance to Cuba in the post-Castro era....

(Talon News) -- An African-American group is calling for an investigation into the relationship between the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and deposed Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny (BOND), a family-focused, community-based organization in Los Angeles founded by Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, issued a letter to Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO), Chairman of the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, asking for a formal investigation of the legislative caucus. BOND's request is in response to actions and comments by members of the CBC regarding American policy toward Haiti, particularly accusations that White...

Black Groups Call for Investigation of Congressional Black Caucus; Details of Black Lawmakers' Relationship with Deposed Haitian Leader Sought 4/7/2004 6:00:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: David Almasi of the National Center for Public Policy Research, 202-371-1400 ext. 106 or Project21@nationalcenter.org WASHINGTON, April 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to actions and comments by members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) regarding American policy toward Haiti, the African-American leadership network Project 21 endorsed a letter to Chairman Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) asking the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to conduct a formal investigation of...

House Committee Political Crisis in Haiti International Relations, Western Hemisphere Washington, District of Columbia (United States) ID: 180815 - 03/03/2004 - 4:49 - $300.00 Ballenger, Cass, U.S. Representative, R-NC Carney, Timothy, Ambassador, United States, Haiti Franco, Adolfo, Official, U.S. Agency for Intl. Development, Latin American Affairs Dewey, Arthur, Assistant Secretary, Department of State, Popul.,Refugees,Migr.Bur. Sachs, Jeffrey, Professor, Columbia University Maguire, Robert, Assistant Professor, Trinity College, International Affairs Noriega, Roger, Assistant Secretary, Department of State, Western Hemisphere Affairs Paquiot, Pierre Marie, President, University of Haiti Marville, Orlando, Election Observer Witnesses testified about the insurgency in Haiti that forced President Aristide to...

<p>House Democrats yesterday hammered State Department officials on their policies in Haiti and some accused the Bush administration of conspiring with opposition forces to oust Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.</p> <p>Democrats on the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere called the administration's "inaction leading to Mr. Aristide's resignation" an affront to democracy and denounced the negotiation process.</p>

Can you imagine the nationwide media uproar if a Republican congressman said Hispanics and whites "all look alike to me"? But this comment came from a Democrat, so it's probably news to you. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., apologized Thursday for her racist remarks. Her outburst came Wednesday during a briefing on Haiti with Florida's congressional delegation and Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, a Mexican-American. The congresswoman, who is black, sat across from Noriega and launched a diatribe against President Bush. She claimed it was Republican leaders who were "racist" in their policies toward the failed black Caribbean nation,...

February 26, 2004 MORE SHAMEFUL RACIST REMARKS FROM A MEMBER OF CONGRESS: U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the President's policy on the beleaguered nation "racist" and his representatives "a bunch of white men." Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America. . . .Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according...

Possibility of migration accord with Mexico revisted BY ALFREDO CORCHADO The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The United States is prepared to take small steps toward achieving a migration accord with Mexico, President Bush's point man on the Americas said as the two nations prepared for Cabinet-level talks. In an interview, Roger Noriega, the assistant secretary of state for Western hemispheric affairs, said a piece-by-piece approach represents the best strategy for achieving a migration pact that's vital to both the United States' security and its economy. "I think (both countries) see it as an economic and security issue,"...

<p>The Bush administration plans to announce in the next few weeks a new set of Cuba initiatives to undermine the regime of Fidel Castro, the State Department's senior diplomat on Latin America said yesterday.</p> <p>"We are reviewing where we are in meeting the president's commitment to promote democratic change on the island," Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, said in an interview.</p>

WASHINGTON - After years of feeling all but forgotten by Washington, Latin American officials Wednesday welcomed Roger Noriega's confirmation as the first Senate-approved assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since 1999. ''This is one of the best decisions the Senate has made in more than five years,'' El Salvador Ambassador Rene Antonio León Rodríguez said after the Senate vote late Tuesday. ``U.S. policy will have a champion now. And the region will finally get the attention it deserves.''Noriega's confirmation came after a long delay because Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had been blocking the vote for months in an...

Pro-Castro Senators Hold a Bush Nominee HostageBy Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal | June 25, 2003 More than halfway through his term, President Bush still doesn't have a confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. The reason is one of those Beltway scandals that deserves more public attention, not least because the episode is doing tangible harm to U.S. national interests. The stability of the Americas is obviously vital to U.S. security, and U.S. leadership is essential for a stable Latin America. But with Colin Powell and Mr. Bush otherwise engaged with the Middle East, the absence of...

More than halfway through his term, President Bush still doesn't have a confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. The reason is one of those Beltway scandals that deserves more public attention, not least because the episode is doing tangible harm to U.S. national interests. The stability of the Americas is obviously vital to U.S. security, and U.S. leadership is essential for a stable Latin America. But with Colin Powell and Mr. Bush otherwise engaged with the Middle East, the absence of a political appointee at State has let the troubles that began in the Clinton years grow...