For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 22, 2001
Statement by the Press Secretary
National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice announced today the
appointment of Ambassador John F. Maisto as Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, effective
January 22.
Ambassador Maisto served as Ambassador to Venezuela from 1997-2000, and
most recently was Foreign Policy Advisor at the U.S. Southern
Command. He previously served as Ambassador to Nicaragua
from 1993-96. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Central American Affairs, 1992-93; and Deputy U.S. Representative to
the Organization of American States, 1989-92. Earlier, he served in
Panama as Deputy Chief of Mission, as Director of the State
Department's Office of Philippine Affairs, and at American Embassies in
Manila, San Jose, and La Paz. He was in the U.S. Information
Agency in Argentina and Bolivia, and has been a career Foreign Service
Officer since 1968.
A native of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Ambassador Maisto has a B.S. from
Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and a M.A. from the
University of San Carlos, Guatemala. He and his wife, Maria
Consuelo Gaston Maisto, have one son and two daughters.
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