Roger Noriega

Roger Francisco Noriega (born 1959, Wichita, Kansas) is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the George W. Bush administration. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, he attended Washburn University in Topeka where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1982.

Noriega has been involved in Latin American policy since the 1980s, when he worked in the Ronald Reagan administration's U.S. Agency for International Development. According to The Texas Observer, while at USAID, Noriega "oversaw 'non-lethal aid' to the Contras," which led to questions about Noriega's work during investigations into the Iran–Contra affair.

Noriega served as the Senior Policy Advisor and Alternate U.S. Representative at the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS) from 1990 through 1993, and as Senior Advisor for Public Information at the OAS from 1993 to 1994.

From 1994 to 1997, Noriega returned to Capitol Hill as a senior staff member Congressman Benjamin Gilman for the House Committee on International Relations. Subsequently, he became a senior staff member of Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). In 1996, Noriega co-authored the Helms–Burton Act, which tightened the United States embargo against Cuba.

Other tours of duty in the Department of State have been with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bureaus for Inter-American Affairs and Public Affairs, where he was a Program Officer from 1987 through 1990 and a Senior Writer/Editor from 1986 until 1987. Prior to that, he served as Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for Congressman Bob Whittaker (R-Kan.), U.S. House of Representatives, from 1983 until 1986. President Bush also appointed Noriega to the board of directors of the Inter-American Foundation.

Noriega served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2001 to 2003.

As Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs under President George W. Bush, Ambassador Noriega was responsible for managing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in the region. Noriega was a major force behind the Bush administration's policy towards Cuba and Venezuela. In 1996, Noriega co-authored the Helms-Burton law which tightened the 40-year-old embargo on Cuba. In April 2002, Noriega was Ambassador to the Organization of American States during the temporary ouster of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Noriega resigned from the State Department in 2005 amid criticism from Senior State Department officials aiming to ease tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela to join the private sector.