Brian Nichols is African American with over 30 years of diplomacy experience and is currently the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe.
Joe Biden appointed Brian Nichols, a career diplomat, to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.
Nichols is African American with over 30 years of experience in diplomacy and is currently the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe. Prior to this position, he was in El Salvador, where he worked as a political officer for the US Embassy.
Nichols has extensive experience in Latin America. He was the Ambassador of the United States to Peru and has held various diplomatic and consular positions in the hemisphere throughout his career. He has also worked in the agency in charge of combating drug trafficking in El Salvador and Mexico, and was number two at the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.
According to Mark Feierstein, a former official in the Barack Obama administration who closely monitors relations between the United States and the region, “this is an excellent decision for the Western Hemisphere Secretary of State. He’s a nice person, a very skilled diplomat who knows the region well, ”he said.
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Adam Isaacson, of the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA) think tank, backed what Feierstein said. In his opinion, Nichols is “a good candidate for Secretary of State. While acting Chief of Mission in Bogotá, Colombia, he showed a genuine interest in human rights and led efforts to advance negotiations between that country’s government and the FARC and helped release hostages. “
One of the many challenges Nichols will face is addressing the causes of irregular immigration, drug trafficking, democracy and the rule of law in the region.
In addition to his track record in foreign policy, he was a fierce critic of police brutality and racism in his country in 2020. He even backed the cause of the Black Lives Matter initiative, something that sometimes made him go against the rhetoric.
If confirmed, he would be Latin America’s first African American Secretary of State in more than four decades.
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