Larry Birns

Larry Birns is the director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a liberal, not-for-profit organization monitoring human rights and political developments in Latin America.

"The Boston Globe" described Birns as a lobbyist and a liberal critic of U.S. policy, [Kinzer, Stephen, Globe Correspondent. Coping with Latin America; At issue: how should we deal with leftists. "Boston Globe" Boston, Mass.: Jul 15, 1980. pg. 1] and "The New York Times" said the Council on Hemispheric Affairs was a liberal research group specializing in United States-Latin America relations, [TREASTER, JOSEPH B. MAN IN THE NEWS; LATIN ENVOY: MR. SIMPATICO. "New York Times." New York, N.Y.: Jun 2, 1983. pg. A.7] and an organization critical of Reagan Administration policy in Latin America. [Mohr, Charles. Ousted Managua Envoy Kept Low Profile. "New York Times". New York, N.Y.: Jul 14, 1988. pg. A.6]

Birns was born in 1929 and grew up in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University and did postgraduate work in the social sciences at Oxford University. Before founding the Council in 1975, Birns taught at Hamilton College and served with a United Nations mission in Chile during the Salvador Allende government.

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