William Brownfield

William R. Brownfield (born 1952) is currently the United States Ambassador to Colombia. He has previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Chile and Venezuela.

Biography

A career Foreign Service Officer, William Brownfield is currently the US Ambassador to Colombia. He was accredited by Colombian President Uribe on September 12, 2007. He arrived in Colombia on August 31, 2007. Prior to arriving in Colombia, Bill Brownfield was Ambassador to Venezuela, and before that Chile.

Ambassador Brownfield's first assignment after joining the Foreign Service in 1979 was in Maracaibo, Venezuela. His other overseas postings include service as Counselor for Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, and assignments in Argentina and El Salvador. He was temporarily assigned as Political Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southern Command in Panama 1989-1990.

In Washington, Ambassador Brownfield's assignments have included Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere (WHA), Director for Policy in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Executive Assistant in the Bureau of Interamerican Affairs, Member of the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff, and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs.

Ambassador Brownfield is a graduate of St. Andrew's School (1970), Cornell University (1974) and the National War College (1993); he also attended the University of Texas School of Law (1976-1978). He speaks Spanish and French. He is a Texas native.

Brownfield is married to Kristie Kenney, the current United States Ambassador to the Philippines.cite web | url = http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwham99.html | title = Biography of Ambassador Kenney | publisher = United States Department of State ]

Chávez Attacks

In a nationally-televised speech on April 9, 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threatened to expel Brownfield for “provoking the Venezuelan people.”cite news | work = MSNBC News Service Online | title = Chavez threatens to expel U.S. ambassador | year = 2006 ] Chávez said “Start packing your bags Mister, if you keep on provoking us, start packing your bags, because I’ll kick you out of here.”

On 25 January 2007, Brownfield was again threatened with expulsion by President Chavez. Chavez was responding to Brownfield's comments on the planned nationalization of several Venezuelan companies in which US companies are minority shareholders. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/01/26/chavez.us.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/8903.htm State Department Biography page (Venezuela)]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/12114.htm State Department Biography page (Chile)]
* [http://www.webzinemaker.com/admi/m12/page.php3?num_web=46834&rubr=4&id=321640 Interview with William Brownfield]