Since 1992 and the fall of the Soviet Union, US policy toward Latin America has been generally ‘insufficient’ or one of ‘benign neglect’.  In fact, many observers have concluded that both the Clinton and W. Bush administrations basically handed the lead on Latin policy to the Cuban American lobby in order to secure Florida, a swing state in the Presidential elections. The Summitry Process began by Clinton which some critics considered an every four year photo op and not much more. It did have two substantive themes: a hemispheric free trade area and strongly endorsing democracy by pointing out that Cuba was the only non-democratic country in the region.

After 9/11, Latin America was readily served up and all but forgotten so it seemed. At first, the Bush Administration catered to the fiercely anti-Castro sector which had strongly voted for him. In W’s second term, the policy was pretty much given to the bureaucracy to manage and handle. This disappointed many hardliners. The objective evolved to keep the region’s problems from distracting Secretary Rice from more serious and important areas of concern. The designated hitter for Latin Policy became a fourth level bureaucrat, an Assistant Secretary was left to fend for himself without much visible top cover. Obama reached the White House and Hillary Clinton was ensconced as Secretary of State after having successfully blocked Bill Richardson from the job. Admittedly, Gov. Richardson was in the midst of a brewing scandal in New Mexico. Several political and media wags noted that all the key Latin foreign policy slots have been given to Latinos. These included Dan Restrepo at the NSC, Arturo Valenzuela at State, Frank Mora at Defense and Carmen Lomellin as Ambassador to OAS. This has been applauded notably by the Latino constituency groups. The issue has become now one of policy. Does the Obama administration care about the Latin American region? Where does it stack up? The fact is that the region once again finds itself vis-a-vis the US on the back-burner. It is not on the cutting edge of foreign policy. Yet early on Obama found himself in a tussle on two issues: Cuba and Chavez.

When Obama attended the Summit of the Americas meeting in the spring in Trinidad Tobago, he ran into unexpected or unscripted situations: is the US now ready to re-admit Cuba to the OAS? The vast majority of the Hemisphere’s countries were angling to get Cuba back into the OAS. The Obama team seemed surprised and almost unprepared for this challenge. The other one was how to deal with Chavez. Obama showed class and engaged Chavez briefly but certainly in awkward photo ops. The Cuba question dogged Hillary in the June OAS ministerial in Honduras. At the eleventh hour the Obama team was able to scramble and cobble a mutually acceptable communiqué that did not re-admit Cuba but addressed the irregularity of Cuba being absent from the OAS family. Some labeled the new Administration’s performance “Bush Light.” At the same time the US Mexico relationship was steadily moving forward. Obama revealed his support of Plan Merida to enable Mexico to better take on the drug cartels which have created enormous instability. But the funding for Merida was largely held up because of bureaucratic lack of clarity and other requirements. The other US Mexico challenge is undocumented immigration. No political bravery has emanated from the White House to wrangle with this most sensitive political public policy issue. In fact, no one is able now to predict if immigration reform will be an agenda item in the first two years of the Administration. So far it seems like the Democrats have concluded that the immigration reform bill is a lose-lose situation. The post 9/11 anti-terrorist sentiment coupled with the global economic downturn has inflicted pain on the US body politic. The US public has become more reluctant if not hostile to new immigration flows. This has plainly put a crimp into Obama team’s outlook. The continuation of building the border wall and draconian Homeland Security illegal-immigrant raids on job sites have not been seen sympathetically in Latin America and among Latino audiences in this country.

The more defining moment for the Obama Administration has been the on-going Honduras ‘golpe’ or coup crisis. The Obama team initially sided with the ousted President Zelaya and declared that the sacred principles of democracy had to be adhered and respected. Hence, Zelaya’s restoration to power became the battle cry for US interests in the initial months. Five months later the Obama administration is backtracking on the defense of democratic principles. The Administration appears to have tired of the Honduran crisis. The de facto regime in Honduras dug in and used PR and propaganda cleverly. More interesting seemed to be the Administration’s inability to persuade the defacto regime to cede power. Honduras is small with no political influence, no economic power nor military might — only diplomacy is in its arsenal. The US having all these options thinks in exhausting the first three before employing diplomacy. Hence, the Hondurans readily resorted to the old small country approach to concerns: use diplomacy but follow the rules of not speaking first, do not get angry and finally if unable to resolve favorably the problem then tangle it more. In using these tactics, Honduras wore out the US. The Obama administration slowly began to show  impatience and wariness. They saw Honduras as a small pesky country becoming increasingly more annoying and troublesome on the international stage.

Finally, the US after having declared itself initially pro-restoration of Zelaya and passing the problem to the OAS and Nobel Laureate President Arias of Costa Rica to resolve saw itself being drawn back into the fray. The contentious process dragged out in the discussion of whether the ouster of the Honduran President was legal or not. It attracted Republican die-hearts who defended the coup (because of the Chavista factor against Zelaya) while the Administration and the whole international community condemned the coup as anti-democratic. Obama’s team began to see themselves politically caught between a rock and a hard place: do we support and restore a Chavista (enemy of the US ) while defending democracy? After five months, Secretary of State Clinton and her Assistant Secretary for Latin America (who was being denied confirmation as Ambassador to Brazil by the Republicans) sought to cut a deal and injected themselves finally into the process to basically extricate themselves from this tar-baby. This required an about face or a betrayal of the previous US position. This has now become most troubling in Latin America to see the young dynamic US Administration as less than gracious in this process. In fact, many pundits in and outside the US are remarking or noting that the Administration not only demonstrated confusion or ineptitude or at best a maladroit approach, but callously left most of the OAS membership holding the bag.

To shore up support and bring someone high-level from the US Administration, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was chosen to be the senior US participant in a so-called Verification Commission to secure the recent signed accords now being hailed as the final solution. Solis, practically unwitting or unfamiliar with the situation, was carefully choreographed by the State Department to ensure that she would stick to the diplomatic script and not become a freelancer. Hilda had been initially hailed as the most liberal member of the Obama cabinet but by the time she left Tegucigalpa she was seen as apologist for the defacto ‘golpista’ government. She now takes the hit, not Hillary. Rather clever and cynical maneuvering it was indeed. As soon as Tom Shannon, the State Department’s overseer of this whole show announced that the Hondurans no longer had to restore Zelaya to get international recognition of the upcoming elections, the defacto government felt it was off the hook and home free.  The Brazilians, who are housing Zelaya in their Embassy and waiting for his restoration, feel the US has behaved at best negligently and indifferent. The problem could have been avoided or minimize by having initially forceful high-level US leadership on the issue. The OAS  had its Secretary General and all the countries in the region had their Presidents or Prime Minister through their Foreign Ministers decry this US perfidy. The US has had a fourth-rung bureaucrat (the Assistant Secretary) in the lead.  Obama’s team failed to recognized from the beginning the limitations of the State Department if not given top White House cover. Moreover, in handing over the volatile issue in this case to the bureaucracy, it plainly did not understand that ‘diplomats seek the path of least resistance, they believe in nothing and everything to everyone’ and as bureaucrats they adhere to: never get between a bureaucrat and his/her ambitions. They mow you down….the additional factor is that while the US behaved like a world power during the Cold War: it basically ordered everyone except the Soviets to do its bidding. In Spanish it was referred to as the ‘dedazo’…now in the post Cold War-era even the tiny insignificant powers have begun to lose their fear of the US. Yet this muddle and lack of focus produce the image of a Gulliver with Lilliputians throwing ropes over his back to bring him down. The US Latino community regardless of partisan bias will feel that if this is all the Obama Administration can provide in terms of moral leadership and support for democratic ideals and most of all the lack of consistency in policy toward Latin America then a closer  look at the expectations must be undertaken. Disappointment is the only word to describe the first real test of fortitude, skill and determination in dealing with Latin America. Arturo Valenzuela the new Assistant Secretary will now have to rectify, re-define as well as need to provide the real Obama vision of the region.

If you remember, Richardson was involved in an investigation of pay-to-play in regards to donations from CDR Financial Products, which in turn was given an advisory role on state transportation bond transactions.

On another note, this week Governor Richardson has been in Cuba on a state trade mission for agricultural goods. While there, he stopped by Ernest Hemingway’s home, which is now a museum and presented a replica of a vintage telephone used by Hemingway to curators. He also said that US citizens should be able to visit cultural sites such as this one.

“There’s a link between Hemingway and the United States and Cuba, and now there’s a New Mexico link,” he said. “I think enhancing cultural and artistic and educational ties is a prelude to diplomatic and commercial ties. It always happens that way.”

“I’m for enhanced tourism travel for Americans.”

I would have to agree with Governor Richardson about enhanced travel privileges to Cuba. It would promote a greater understanding. And at this point, I don’t think we or the Cuban people gain much from the existing arrangement.

Photo Credit: Aug. 26, 2009 Govenor Richardson in former home of writer Ernest Hemingway in Cuba (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Obama’s minority status did not move Latinos to vote for him as overwhelming as the African-American voters did. One must ask if these GOP Latinos are sensitive to the immigration debate and do they side with general Republican sentiment on the issue. Then again, the Democrats are not breaking down doors to address the immigration conundrum either.  In sum, the Latinos will probably continue not to be monolithic in inclination to the Democratic Party, but will be a significant and increasingly powerful actor in Democratic Party activities. Meanwhile, the GOP will continue to reach out to the Latino community in a determined way— as it has in the past– by being the first of the two parties to appoint the first Latino White House Fellow Henry Cisneros, first Assistant Secretary Al Zapanta by President Ford, the first two Latinos (Cavazos and Lujan), to the Cabinet by Reagan and Bush 41. Bush 43 later attempted to name the first Latino to the federal Court of Appeals (Miguel Estrada); plus many other visible appointments. Similarly, the Democrats have also found the need to appoint Latinos to the Cabinet and sub Cabinet like Federico Pena, Henry Cisneros and Bill Richardson.

In the end, the GOP understands that the growing Latino population will certainly be an even more important element in national, state and local elections and must seriously examine how to keep the Latino base of 30% within the party and make it grow. The Democrats must demonstrate that they do not take the Latinos for granted (two thirds of the group’s voters) and involve them even more in the party process and in the governing and policy-making process. The three significant Latino voting groups currently are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Soon they will be joined by millions of other recent Latino immigrant groups like the Central Americans, the Caribbean and South Americans. The race will be on for their political loyalties. The looming debate on immigration will smoke out many of the hidden sentiments among the American body politic. If one of the national parties allows the debate to become one of being anti-Latino/Hispanic versus being just anti-illegal entry into the US, then the Latino population will react accordingly and move solidly to the non-offending party. The case of California in the 1990s is instructive. When the GOP sitting governor (Pete Wilson) attempted to garner votes by assailing illegal immigrants, the political target was designated to be the medical and school costs inflicted on California. Sadly, the upshot became a fiercely anti-Latino sentiment which was readily palpable. This resulted in a more activist and pro-Democrat Latino constituency. The GOP cannot afford to have this repeated at the national level. The only continuous and reliable Democrat state in national elections and where the Latinos reside in sizable numbers is New York. California is increasingly considered a loyal Democrat state with its growing Latino population. New Mexico tends to have a more independent Latino constituency which can tack Republican or Democrat, but usually it votes Democrat. Texas Latinos are largely Democrat in orientation, tradition and behavior. All six Latino Congressmen are Democrats as they are in California, but the Republicans have become the dominant party in Texas at virtually every level. Many Texas Latinos vote for the GOP on national and state-wide elections. But the majority remains Democrat. All demographic studies reveal that the Latino population in Texas will be preponderant in the not too distant future and the GOP will be the big loser given its current insufficient or indifferent outreach to the Hispanic community.

In the last thirty years, the Hispanic community in Florida has been dominated by the effective Cuban-American political efforts in favor of the Republican Party. However, the election of 2008 revealed that the majority of Latino voters in the state are no longer Cubans. Moreover, the GOP hold on the Cuban-Americans is no longer the case. Recent arrivals of Cubans along with third generation Cuban-Americans tend not to automatically affiliate with the GOP. Additionally, the arrival into Florida of significant numbers of Central Americans, South Americans, Mexicans and the movement of Puerto Ricans from the Northeast indicates that they are not following the traditional Cuban lead on voting Republican. Again, the GOP has an enormous challenge in how to attract Latinos into its big tent. Just electing the National Chair of the Party like Senator Mel Martinez is insufficient. The party must have a serious outreach with a welcoming fervor. Latinos have to feel comfortable with a party’s philosophy on race and ethnicity, treatment of their social and economic issues and concerns and be made to feel an integral part of the membership. In sum, some Latinos have found some solace with the GOP for economic, social, fiscal, national security, and other philosophical reasons. But their allegiance is tentative if the Party’s discourse becomes pervasively unwelcoming.

The buzz in the Mexican press is that Frederico Peña will be named US Ambassador to Mexico. Peña, another Texas-born achiever, was formerly mayor of Denver and occupied two cabinet positions in the Clinton Administration: Energy and Transportation. Perhaps that is why he has dropped from sight and receded to the background during this transition period: he already had secured his hueso. Peña certainly has the stature which pleases the Mexicans; now they appear to wonder how good is his Spanish speaking ability.

Lastly, one disconcerting note:  increasingly there are sotto voce comments about the divisiveness in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. It is commented that one California Latino Congressman is actively seeking to torpedo his fellow Congresswoman, Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. In fact, it is reported that he has gone as far as seeking support among the Texas Latino delegation to help scuttle the nomination. If this is true, it will only serve to demonstrate the immaturity, unprofessionalism, pettiness and certainly the lack of unity among the Latino political leadership. This ugly and deplorable incident would only serve to convince outsiders that we Latinos are not ready for prime time. Admittedly, the California Latino (Mexican-American) delegation appears to have this chronic problem. Among the Texas, New Mexico, New York, and the Arizona Latino Congressional delegations, this type of behavior has happily not been detected. Besides California, only Florida has experienced such vindictiveness among its Latino (Cuban-American) Congressional delegation. It manifested itself with a smattering of jealousy and resentment. This was most apparent when HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, reportedly tapped by Karl Rove, ran successfully in the GOP primaries some years ago for the Senate. Both Washington DC and Florida were riven with gossip about how the Diaz-Balart Congressional brothers did not support Martinez in the primary and seriously wanted Mel defeated; much animosity was detected. If this behavior persists or reoccurs, it will weaken and badly tarnish the National Latino/Hispanic political leadership. Plainly, it would render the Latino presence at the national level as ineffective and unimportant. The challenge is for the Latino community to foster and develop some semblance of adult supervision for such behavior.

H/T to MediaCritiques.com for the Richardson cartoon

At the UN, Richardson had a rap for not really preparing for his brief and winging it. This may have been the career foreign service just grousing over his style since there was never any egregious act or omission cited as evidence of deficiency or neglect. In fact, he was well-liked and viewed as being effective by the other member countries’ diplomats. The betting is that there is probably nothing substantively gone awry in this latest development, but the optic of conflict of interest in the wake of Governor Blagojevich’s scandal is enough to have forced him to withdraw his name for nomination to be Secretary of Commerce.

The fact remains that Bill Richardson has been one of seven Hispanics to have ever been named to the Cabinet in history. He was both UN Ambassador and Energy Secretary under Clinton, yet this does not minimize the deep regret felt among many Latino circles. Richardson has been the numero uno among national Latino political leaders in recent years. His anticipated presence in Washington was widely regarded as him becoming the official Alpha-dog in the Latino community. This now has been snuffed out and reminds one of Henry Cisneros’ political demise, which in his case was riven with high-drama personal scandal. Cisneros too greatly disappointed the Latino community. The new Latino cabinet members Ken Salazar and Hilda Solis come with regional or local stature, not the national one that Richardson represents. Therefore, it remains to be seen if either or both will acquire national presence and more importantly have the ‘power of convocation’ (poder de convocatoria as we say in Spanish).

With no Mexican American in the Senate now that Salazar is going to Interior and the only Latino Governor (Richardson) seriously wounded, the need for more activist Latino leadership would be most welcome. GOP Senator Mel Martinez announced that he is not running for re-election, and this has rendered him less than effective. This leaves Bob Menendez of New Jersey as the principal Latino torch bearer in the Senate, a role he can handle extremely well. In the House, Nydia Velazquez of New York will be the new  Congressional Hispanic Caucus honcho. However, she lacks national presence but is viewed as a ‘live firecracker’ in political circles and potentially an ‘unguided missile.’ Let us see how seriously she is taken. Silvestre Reyes will again be the only Latino in Congress chairing a full committee, a most influential one at that: the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

In terms of the Latino agenda, specifically the possibility (remote) of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) legislation, the obvious Latino lead on this has been interestingly enough not a Mexican American, but the Puerto Rican Congressman from Chicago, Luis Gutierrez. Congressman Gutierrez has been the most vocal advocate in the House on this issue. The interesting fact with Gutierrez is that immigration is not a driving issue among Puerto Ricans, as a whole, since they are born US citizens. Lastly and again, the latest Latino star, Bill Richardson, a truly affable human being, with a brilliant and astute political nose, and the self-confidence and demeanor of a world statesman, has had to remove himself from further national public office. As the Latino community prepares to welcome the Obama Administration, it will sorely feel the absence of Governor Richardson. One can already sense the hurt among the Latino community’s enthusiastic young aspiring leadership. It now remains to be seen where and how many and who of the young Latino Obamistas will get second and third tier or even fourth tier (assistant secretary level) appointments. This will help institutionalize the Latino presence in the federal bureaucracy as well as recast its prior focus, yet the absence of the Gran Jefe Bill Richardson as a guide and mentor will definitely be felt, a political tragedy for the Latino community.

Photo Credit: AP, Bill Richardson meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

CQ Politics offers this:

“The investigation involves a California-based company, CDR Financial Products, and whether it received lucrative fees from the New Mexico Finance Authority in 2004 after making political contributions to Richardson.

The Associated Press reported that CDR and its CEO, David Rubin, had contributed at least $110,000 to various Richardson committees. CDR was paid $1.48 million for work given to it by New Mexico.”

This investigation is over approximately $1.6 million transacted between the contributions and the money paid to the contractor by the state of NM. In politics, this is chump change. If Richardson is in fact directly implicated in this matter, I hope that he feels that the $110K contribution was worth losing out on being back in Washington, D.C. in a cabinet position again.

George W. Bush is virtually out the door, but he still retains the power to make some appointments primarily to boards and commissions. W announced this past week that he would make a score or more of appointments including three known Latinos: Secretary Of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez of Michigan to a six year appointment to the Board overseeing the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; he also named Israel (Izzy) Hernandez of Texas, current Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Commerce and the Director General of the Foreign Commercial Service (also widely known as the former babysitter in Texas for the Bush twins, Barbara and Jenna), to a five year stint to the Advisory Commission for Trade Policy and Negotiations; and lastly, President Bush announced his appointment of Grace Flores Hughes (formerly of Texas) now of Virginia to the Federal Service Impasses Panel for a five year period (she was already appointed by W to this panel before). Grace is well-known in Hispanic Washington circles for having been one of the handful of Latinos on a panel during the Nixon days to come up with the designation for the Spanish-Speaking population as Hispanic. Many consider the use of “Hispanic” by the Census Bureau to label Latinos as inappropriate or not agreed by the Latino community.

It never is too late for any President to make appointments even in the midst of issuing pardons to felons and/or would be felons in the waning days of the Administration. One would hope that some ‘paying’ appointments to such boards of Fannie Mae or the U.S Postal Service Board will include Latinos. The sub-cabinet and third and fourth tier Obama appointments will not be known until after the New Year. Several Latinos (like Tino Cuellar, Frank Sanchez, Dan Restrepo et al) are reportedly in that churn. Also, the latest reports indicate that Governor Bill Richardson may have a rougher ride in the confirmation process due to some questionable contracts to financial supporters. Hopefully that will pass. Certainly after the Governor Blago madcap affair and some other minor niggling questions, Bill Richardson will look like an easy approval.

Bill Richardson appears to have committed a big blooper. In a recorded video being bicycled around the internet, he states in Spanish that President Elect Obama is “un inmigrante.” Plainly, this feeds the anti-Obama bloggers, pundits, critics, bigots and other enemies of the newly elected President that want to believe he is ‘ineligible’ to become President because he is not “native born.” Of course, Richardson may have merely committed a gaffe (note the Supreme Court will not review Obama’s citizenship, as the Hawaii Health Department Director has confirmed that he was born in Hawaii).

It became clear that Obama will have so far at least two Asian Americans on Cabinet. Shinseki at Veterans Affairs and Chu at Energy, two African Americans: Holder at Justice as AG and Susan Rice at the UN, three white males Daschle at HHS, Geithner at Treasury and Gates remains at Defense, and one Latino to Commerce – Richardson. Still being speculated for Interior is Grijalva and Manny Diaz for HUD or Transportation. Talk of Xavier Becerra to USTR (the Trade Representative) died down this week, but no other name has surfaced and talk is that Becerra wants to stay in the House to be the third or fourth ranking Dem. Still the trade establishment is trying to recover from the shock of learning that Becerra is a serious contender for the USTR job. Becerra is not  regarded as a genuine friend of trade agreements unless they address blue/green issues (labor/environmental) — both anathema to the corporate and trade mandarins. Frank Sanchez is still being toted as probably the new Presidential Envoy to Latin America. He will probably need to get Hillary Clinton, the new Secretary of State, designee’s buy in.

The NSC Director for Latin America appears to be on track for Colombian American Dan Restrepo. Luis Lauredo (Cuban American), former Clinton Ambassador to the OAS, is promoting himself as the possible new Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America as is Arturo Valenzuela (Chilean American), a Georgetown Professor who was Clinton’s last NSC Director for Latin America. Both have keen competition from Mark Schneider, a former Senator Ted Kennedy confidante and former Clinton Asst Administrator of AID for Latin America and Julia Schweig, a leading Latin expert on Cuba at the white bread Council on Foreign Relations.

Joe Garcia, the Dems’ recent unsuccessful challenger to Congressman Mario Diaz Balart, is being talked about as a possible and most viable candidate for the of the powerful FCC or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Garcia (Cuban American) was formerly head of the Florida Public Utilities Board under the late Gov Lawton Chiles. Another Washington bagatelle has it that Henry Cisneros is strongly plugging for the recently defeated Texas Dems’ candidate for the US Senate, Rick Noriega to be the head of FEMA, which is not a job most people are rushing to embrace or seek. Word from Europe is that former Clinton Ambassador to Spain Ed Romero was seen visiting Madrid with Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez in tow. It seems that Romero is openly and brazenly supporting Chavez’ candidacy for Obama’s envoy to King Juan Carlos. Romero, along with Chavez, was assumed to be measuring the curtains at the sumptuous Ambassadorial digs. The question remains: Is Richardson also standing tall for Chavez? Being ambassador to Spain opens plenty of business opportunities after you leave office, and Romero knows this well. Next we might see a Latino measuring the drapes at the Ambassador’s abode in Mexico City…

Gov Bill Richardson’s appointment (after having been derailed from becoming the first Latino Secretary of State)  for the Secretary Commerce demonstrates that President-Elect Obama will continue the tradition of appointing at least one Hispanic or Latino to the Cabinet. The first President to appoint a Latino to the Cabinet (Lauro Cavazos) was Ronald Reagan back in 1988. Actually, Senate Confirmation Appointees level Hispanics began in the Kennedy Administration with Raymond Tellez to be Ambassador to Costa Rica followed by Teodoro Moscoso as Ambassador to Venezuela. In 1967, the first Hispanic career Foreign Service Ambassador was John Jova (Ambassador to Honduras, OAS and Mexico). The first Assistant Secretary level appointee was under Gerald Ford when he named Alberto Zapanta to be Assistant Secretary at Interior in 1975. Carter named the first Hispanic Chief of Protocol, Lalo Valdez and the first service secretary, Edward Hidalgo as Secretary of the Navy in 1979. Several Federal Judges have been named since Reynaldo de la Garza of Texas was named Federal District Judge in 1961, yet none have ever been named to the Appeals or Supreme Court. Miguel Estrada, the Honduran American, was blocked from becoming a Federal Appeals Judge. As for additional Latinos in the Obama Cabinet yet to occur, speculation focuses on Federico Pena, former Mayor of Denver and later Clinton’s Secretary of both Departments of Energy and Transportation, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is often mentioned, as is another prospect Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. ‘Tino’ Cuellar, Stanford Law Professor is being bandied as the new Immigration Director (CIS/DHS), which is at the Under Secretary level in Homeland Security.

It is interesting how the Obama transition team was feeling the heat to come up with more visible Latino appointees and readily announced NCLR Vice President Cecilia Munoz as Director of Inter-Government Affairs at the White House, as was also announced former Army Secretary under Clinton, Louis Caldera as the Director of the White House Military Office, which traditionally has been occupied by a high ranking military General. Caldera was viewed as having done a so-so job in the Army Secretariat, but many consider he bombed out of the Presidency of the University of New Mexico where he later was awarded a tenured position in is law school — probably to comply with the terms of the contract. Let us hope that both Munoz and Caldera get the official White House title of “Assistant to the President.”

On the National Security side, there are no rumors of a Latino at Defense, at least not in the Deputy Secretary slot or at the under secretary and assistant secretary level. At State likewise except for the strong rumor of Tampa lawyer Frank Sanchez  to be named Special Envoy to the Americas following the Clinton practice of having an envoy to Latin America. The substantive question here is: Will Frank Sanchez report to the President as Mack McLarty and former Florida Governor Buddy McKay did?…Or will he report to the Secretary of State or even worse to the Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America (a fourth rung bureaucratic level after Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary)? Ideally, one would hope he will report to the President. Former Congressional Staffer Dan Restrepo is another name consistently heard in the Obama circles as the incoming NSC Director for Latin America.

Hopefully, Obama will improve on the career ranks of ambassadors and general/flag rank officers. The outgoing Bush Administration has a shabby record at State for having named only three visible Latino career foreign service officers as Ambassadors – the worst record in over three decades: Colin Powell only named one, Lino Gutierrez, Cuban American to Argentina now working for Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez as his top adviser on Cuba policy. Gutierrez like Mel Martinez (HUD)  was deliberately granted the gatekeeper role on Cuba and over-all Latin policy for the George W Bush Administration. Now that Richardson gets Commerce, will Obama follow the practice of having him (Richardson) be the lead on Mexico and US Latin American relations? Condi Rice named only two additional Latino career foreign service professionals to be ambassadors: Hugo Llorens (Cuban American) to Honduras  and the first female Hispanic (visible) career officer Carmen Martinez (Puerto Rican) to Zambia, where she was proclaimed by the local media as the best US Ambassador ever.

As for our Latinos in the military ranks, much remains to be remedied. Latinos comprise about 15 to 17% of the over 1.2 million active duty US soldiers and African Americans are about 25% of the active duty ranks, yet Latinos have only three general/flag rank officers, none with three or four stars. The African-Americans have 26 general/flag rank officers. The one Latino was LT GEN Ricardo Sanchez, who was slotted to be the first four star general in years. Only two Latinos have ever been four star officers: Admiral Horacio Rivero of Puerto Rico and Army General Richard Cavazos (brother of first Latino cabinet head Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos).  Sanchez took the hit for the disastrous torture episodes in Iraq while he was three star army commanding officer of US Forces, as they say in Spanish:  ’el perro flaco recibe las pulgas’  (the skinny dogs gets the fleas). Sanchez obviously had no real ’top cover’ because none of the other top rank officers paid the price like him, worse yet Sanchez had no ‘top cover’ from the Hispanic caucus in Congress nor does the Caucus as a whole appear to interest itself in these low promotion numbers of Latinos at State and the Defense Department.

In the Intelligence Community, it is rare to find any Latinos. Only two have ever risen to the highest circles of the Community (they remain nameless), and only one Latino was ever named to the prestigious and high powered  President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB), a former career Foreign Service Officer Ambassador Cresencio Arcos. He was named to the Board once by President Clinton and re-appointed by President George W. Bush. It should be noted that the Latino advocacy groups are rarely seen interesting themselves to check on the progress of moving Latinos up the career ladder. If they were to examine the ranks of SESers (Senior Executive Service)  in the Civil Service, the numbers may be even more appalling. The paucity of high ranking Latino career professionals is obscured by some glittering political (non-career) Hispanic appointment to the Cabinet or Embassies. Then again the rap on Latin Americans (ergo Latinos) is that we do not concern ourselves institutionally only personally…that is at the personal level.

Bill Richardson exemplifies what we can become and do when we apply ourselves and take advantage of opportunities. He has an impressive resume as we have pointed out repeatedly.

Congrats to Governor Richardson – he could very well be Secretary of State in the next Obama administration! If Condi Rice can play musical chairs, he can too, as he has done previously. And I agree with President-Elect Obama, Richardson does look more rugged and Western with the beard! Hopefully, he will grow it back.

I also want to note that the WSJ Washington Wire mentioned our blog posts about the Richardson vs. Clinton face off for the Secretary of State. It also references some other sentiments that are worth reading as well.