U.S. Ambassador H.E. Robert Dieter on his stint in Belize
A change in any government is usually followed by a change in top ranking personnel… and with president-elect Barack Obama scheduled to take office on the twentieth, the term of U.S. Ambassador to Belize Robert Dieter will come to an end. In his final days as the US’ top diplomat in Belize, Dieter appeared on the Open Your Eyes morning show today. We asked the ambassador what he plans to do next.
H.E. Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
“I’ll be leaving Belize on the nineteenth, which is a week from Monday and I’ll be…”
William Neal
“We caught you just in time.”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“And then I’ll be returning back to Colorado where I’m from.”
William Neal
“And there you were a law professor.”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“Right.”
William Neal
“What’s next for you?”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“I’m not sure as yet. Summer when I was back I talked to people at the law school and they had some ideas but, I’m sort of on the bug for this foreign living and I really enjoy doing something that has a direct impact on helping people. As a lawyer, I was a criminal defense attorney, so I got satisfaction helping people but at this point I would like to concentrate on broader issues and work on more humanitarian type initiatives. My favourite memory of Belize I think is the lot of people that I’ve met and the friends that we’ve made. I’ve been here three and a half years so that’s long enough actually make some close relationships and I think just the people that you’ll miss the most.”
William Neal
“You have a new ambassador lined up already?”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“no, I wouldn’t know that information and it’s really too early probably. There’s a transition team that’s in charge of all appointments.”
Marleni Cuellar
“So they hold over in the interim.”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“Yeah, well they review applications and determine who would be appropriate to be the ambassador to Belize. The process is quite a lengthy one in terms of the background checks, the financial checks, and you go through Senate confirmation hearings and then they have to vote, and you know, you go through a training course in Washington for about three weeks. So it’s a lengthy process even if they’ve identified a particular person.”
William Neal
“So we won’t see another ambassador for another six months?”
H.E. Robert Dieter
“I don’t really know how fast they will move but I’m sure you will get someone who is committed to good relations between the two countries.”
In the three years that he has been in Belize, Dieter has been a common sight on this newscast, usually when his country is donating cash, supplies, or technical expertise to some cause. The U.S. government has provided supplies and equipment to the B.D.F., medical treatment to rural areas, built schools across the country, and support HIV-reduction efforts. But one of their greatest efforts is cracking down on the trans-national drug trade, which is where the Belize National Coast Guard comes in.
H.E. Robert Dieter
“The main success I think is the standing up of the coast guard. We’ve provided a lot of equipment and training and helped Admiral Borland get the coastguard up and operational. And it’s important for anti-drug trafficking effort, but it’s also important for Belize to have the capacity to do search and rescue missions and otherwise and patrol their waters to help ensure their territorial integrity. We are in the process of building a command headquarters just off the Western Highway at mile four and I’ve been out to Calabash Caye where their building a ford operation base that’ll be—I think the dedication of that will be some time in February. Then I went down to Hunting Caye down south where there was a base there but that’s been refurbished. So that effort through the Coastguard has been the a major push in terms of interdiction of their kinds.”
