MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Career diplomat to replace Noriega

United States president George Bush named Tom Shannon as the new of the Deputy Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs.

Mr. Shannon, a career diplomat, who will be replacing Roger Noriega, could be signalling a new US approach towards Latinamerica, an area which seems to have been abandoned by the White House in the last few years.

Cuban born Mr. Noriega who is well known for his hard line towards Cuba and Venezuela and his aggressive style anticipated he was leaving his post next September to work in the private sector.

However Mr. Shannon's nomination that currently is Latinamerica Desk Chief in the White House Security Council and is a close advisor of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still has to be approved by the Senate.

Washington political analysts warn that with the naming of Mr Shannon, "no dramatic changes in policy towards the region can be expected", but a new style and approach, in favour of multilateralism and moderation can be forecasted.

"Since Mr. Shannon is a career diplomat won't be captive of Mr. Noriega's political domestic interests, and in this sense the change could be in style", said Viany Jawahar US analyst from Inter-American Dialogue.

"Even if it doesn't seem very significant, it is a significant change", insisted Mr. Jawahar.

"Mr. Noreiga's style has been quite rough and we hope Shannon is a bit more cautious, appeals to multilateral mechanisms, such as the OAS, to strengthen US interests, and work closely with important governments of the region such as Brazil and Chile".

With the Bush administration concentrated in other areas of the world, particularly following the September 11 terrorist attacks, it could now begin to attempt to soften the frustration and mistrust of the region by naming a professional State Department team.

In the last two years during with Noriega in the helm, Washington and the region's agendas increasingly distances, pointed out Mr. Jawahar.