US Department Of State Replacing A 74 Year-Old With A 37 Year-Old Which Will Benefit A 45 Year-Old At The National Security Council

A Baby Boomer Replaced With A Generation Y Which Will Be Of Value To A Generation X

The Trump Administration is making a change at the United States department of State that will result in a more robust advocacy for further expansion of constrictive policies towards the Republic of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua among other countries- with policy managed by two politically-tuned and media-savvy men. 

The change not only represents a substantive change in level of experience, but a generational change which will benefit the advocacy of The Honorable Mauricio Claver-Carone (45 years old), Senior Director- Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) in The White House, who will now have a colleague in Foggy Bottom who is nearer in age than The Honorable Michael G. Kozak (74 years old), Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State.

Likely given the legislative calendar for the United States Senate for the remaining days of 2020, Ambassador Carlos Trujillo will be a recess appointment or serve in an acting capacity through the 3 November 2020 election.

The White House
Washington DC
17 March 2020

“President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint the Following Individuals to Key Administration Posts

Carlos Trujillo [37 years old], of Florida, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Western Hemisphere Affairs) as well as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation.

Mr. Trujillo currently serves as the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador.  He was a Special Advisor to the United States Mission to the United Nations during the United Nations General Assembly in 2017.

Mr. Trujillo also served in the Florida House of Representatives as the Representative for the 105th District.  He is a founding partner of Trujillo, Vargas, Gonzalez & Hevia, LLP of Coral Gables, Florida, and a former Assistant State Attorney at the Miami Dade County State Attorney’s office in Miami.

Mr. Trujillo earned a B.S. degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and a J.D. from Florida State College of Law in Tallahassee.”  

Ambassador Trujillo Is Replacing The Honorable Michael G. Kozak, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State 

From United States Department of State: “Ambassador Michael Kozak is a charter member of the career Senior Executive Service of the United States Government. As such, he has served in a number of senior positions in the U.S. Executive Branch: 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs (13 September 2019-Present). Senior Bureau Official for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (2017-2019).

Senior Adviser to the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (2009-2017). Negotiated a UN resolution to replace “Defamation of Religions” that respected freedom of expression. Served as Acting Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combatting Anti-Semitism. 

Senior Director on the National Security Council staff (2005-2009) with responsibility for Democracy, Human Rights, International Organizations, Migration and Detainee issues. In this capacity, he chaired interagency policy coordinating committees and proposed and coordinated the implementation of events for the President of the United States. He conceived and implemented a system for achieving interagency agreement on democracy promotion strategies and prioritizing resource allocation to implement them. He authored the first National Security Presidential Directive on Democracy and Human Rights since the Carter administration. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State level positions in three bureaus of the Department of State. (Democracy, Human Rights and Labor 2003-2005; Inter-American Affairs 1988-1991; Legal Adviser 1982-88). 

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for extended periods. (Democracy, Human Rights and Labor 2004-5; Inter-American Affairs January 1989-July 1989.) As Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, he organized passage of a resolution on human rights in Cuba in the UN Commission on Human Rights by the largest margin in over a decade. As Acting Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, he assisted Secretary Baker in negotiating and implementing the Bipartisan Accord on Central America which was decisive in bringing a democratic end to the conflict in Nicaragua. 

Ambassador in Minsk, Belarus (2000-2003), and Chief of Mission in Havana, Cuba (1996-1999).

Awards: State Department Superior Honor Award, Younger Federal Lawyer Award, Presidential Ranks of Distinguished and Meritorious Executive, Order of Balboa (presented by the president of Panama). 

Education: Juris Doctor, University of California at Berkeley, 1971 (Assistant Managing Editor, Law Review), A.B., Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 1968.”