Pascual, Carlos, 1959-

<p>The State Department cables released by WikiLeaks have claimed their first big fish in the U.S. diplomatic community as U.S. ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual was forced to resign on March 19, 2011, after complaints by Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón. Actually, most of the cables portrayed Calderón in a positive light, and Pascual is clearly a scapegoat for widely-held critical opinions of the Mexican government’s battle against drug cartels.</p>

<p>It is possible that problems began as soon as President Barack Obama nominated Pascual for the post in April 2009. Pascual was a controversial choice because his specialty was not Latin America, but rather converting newly independent or failed states to democracy and free market capitalism. Consequently, there was suspicion among some Mexicans that Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarded Mexico as a failed state or one on the brink of failure. Nevertheless, Pascual was confirmed and presented his credentials in Mexico City on August 9, 2009.</p>

<p>Born in 1959 in Cuba, Pascual emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of three. He earned his B.A. from Stanford University in 1980 and his Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1982.</p>

<p>Pascual joined the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1983. In addition to working at the agency’s Africa Bureau in Washington, DC, Pascual was posted to Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique. In June 1992, Pascual became director of USAID’s Office of Program Analysis and Coordination for the New Independent States Task Force. From February 1994 to June 1995 he was deputy assistant administrator for Europe and the New Independent States. In that position, he oversaw budget and policy development for USAID’s annual programs of $1.2 billion in the region.</p>

<p>In June 1995, Pascual left USAID for the National Security Council (NSC), where for three years he was director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs, responsible for economic policy generally and for Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. From July 1998 to January 2000, Pascual served as special assistant to the President and NSC senior director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, where he guided US policy related to democracy and market change in Ukraine, and stability, security, and democracy concerns in the Caucasus and Central Asia. From October 2000 to August 2003, Pascual served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.</p>

<p>Returning to Washington in September 2003, Pascual was coordinator for US Assistance to Europe and Eurasia, managing the allocation and implementation of approximately $1.1 billion in annual assistance. Starting in August 2004, Pascual served as coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the State Department. The primary focus of his work was Sudan, Haiti, and several conflict prevention activities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.</p>

<p>In February 2006, Pascual took his first private sector position as Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, an influential, center-liberal policy think tank in Washington, DC. While at Brookings, Pascual co-authored a book on foreign policy, Power & Responsibility: Building International Order in an Era of Transnational Threat, which proposes that greater international cooperation will be needed to meet the global challenges of the 21st Century. He also wrote or supervised reports advising President Obama to “Restore American Leadership to Address Transnational Threats,” encouraging “big thinking” on nuclear nonproliferation, and advocating a policy of “Constructive Engagement,” with Cuba, including the repeal of the trade embargo. The Obama Administration has begun to implement such a policy, beginning with the President’s relaxation of travel and spending restrictions.</p>

<p>Pascual speaks Spanish and Ukrainian.</p>

<p>Carlos Pascual (born 1959) is a Cuban-American diplomat and the former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and Ukraine. He served at the U.S. Agency for international Development from 1983 to 1995, and at the White House National Security Council from 1995 to 2000, ultimately as senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. He was the State Department Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia, and subsequently the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization from 2003 to 2005. Later he served at the Brookings institution and was appointed Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs at the State Department's Bureau of Energy from 2011 to 2014.</p>

<p>He currently serves as senior vice president at IHS Markit.</p>

<p>Pascual attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, California, and graduated in 1976. He then earned a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University in 1980 and an M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1982. He was a student of Coit D. Blacker.</p>

<p>Pascual worked for USAID from 1983 to 1995 in Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique, and as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia. From July 1998 to January 2000, Pascual served as Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and from 1995 to 1998 as Director for the same region, from October 2000 until May 2003, as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. When the Melnychenko recordings of Leonid Kuchma became known, Pascual revealed that the tapes are genuine, undistorted, unaltered, and not manipulated because of the conclusion from FBI Electronic Research Facility's analysis of the original recording device and the original recording found that there are not unusual sounds which would indicate a tampering of the recording, the recording is continuous with no breaks, and there is no manipulation of the digital files. These recordings, known as Kuchmagate, confirmed Kuchma's involvement in the assassination by decapitation of Georgiy Gongadze and Kuchma's unwavering support for Vladimir Putin during the Cali cocaine cartel money laundering through the Putin-owned German firm St. Petersburg Real Estate Holding Company (SPAG). His support for the recordings' authenticity directly led to the Orange Revolution of 2004 in Ukraine.</p>

<p>He was then named Assistance Coordinator for Europe and Eurasia. In 2004, he was named Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the US Department of State.</p>

<p>In 2015, Pascual worked as Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution where he presided over the creation of the Brookings Doha Center and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center.</p>

<p>Selected by President Barack Obama as ambassador to Mexico, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 7, 2009. He presented his credentials to the Mexican government on August 9, 2009 and personally to President Felipe Calderón on October 21, 2009. Pascual submitted his resignation as Ambassador to Mexico on March 19, 2011 in part due to tensions with Calderón. Tensions with President Calderón arose as a result of the WikiLeaks release of diplomatic cables in which Pascual criticized the Mexican military's ability or willingness to fight the Mexican drug cartels. Pascual is considered to be the first casualty of the Wikileaks affair.</p>

<p>Pascual was appointed the State Department's Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs in May 2011, succeeding David L. Goldwyn. He led the Bureau of Energy Resources. Pascual was also the senior advisor to the Secretary of State on global energy diplomacy. In February 2012, April 2013 and January 2014 Pascual was nominated as Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, but not confirmed by the Senate. In August 2014 Pascual was succeeded by Amos Hochstein. After leaving the State Department Pascual became senior vice president of global energy at IHS Markit.</p>

<p>Pascual serves on the Board of Directors of Centrica, a British multinational electricity and gas utility company. He is a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and sits on the Atlantic Council Board of Directors.</p>

<p>Pascual’s publications include articles in <i>The New York Times</i>, the <i>Financial Times</i>, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, and <i>HuffPost</i>. His book, <i>Power and Responsibility</i>, won a 2009 award for the best political science book published by an independent publisher.</p>

<p>Mr. Carlos Pascual, a former senior US diplomat and previously the State Department’s top energy official, is senior vice president at IHS Markit, focusing on global energy issues and international affairs.</p>

<p>As the energy envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs for the United States, Mr. Pascual established and directed the new Energy Resources Bureau at the U.S. Department of State and was senior advisor to the Secretary of State on energy issues. He had previously been a United States Ambassador to both Mexico and Ukraine and was special assistant to the President for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council. At the Brookings Institution, Mr. Pascual served as both vice president and director of foreign policy studies and launched the Brookings Energy Security Initiative. He taught and wrote on energy geopolitics at Columbia University. Mr. Pascual created the position of coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization, establishing the State Department's first civilian response capacity to conflicts. He also was the State Department's coordinator for American assistance to Europe and Eurasia. From 1995 through 2000, he served as special assistant to the President and successively as director and then senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia at the National Security Council. He has also held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development, including as deputy assistant administrator for Europe and Eurasia, chief of policy and strategy for Africa and in field postings in Mozambique, South Africa and Sudan. Mr. Pascual received his Masters of Public Policy degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, both United States. His book, <i>Power and Responsibility</i>, won a 2009 award for the best political science book published by an independent publisher.</p>