Working for the man

I mentioned in a previous post that I had a VIP that I was going to be controlling the hell out of! in the first few weeks of January and that is the primary reason why I haven't had time to update since late December. 

This was a really important visit for the embassy, as it was the Department of State's Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela who was traveling to Argentina during a politicaly sensitive time - right in the wake of the Wikileaks fiasco, in which a disproportionate number of Argentina cables were released to the media, and just after the creation of a new Security Ministry and appointment of a Security Minister who has a reputation for antipathy towards the armed services (this is relevant because we have a strong U.S. military presence at the Buenos Aires embassy that does reach out to Argentina's military and needs the cooperation of the new Ministry to conduct any sort of bilateral relations).  The last time Valenzuela visited Argentina was in December 2009 and he received quite a bit of negative press for that visit, so we had to be particularly careful in planning this trip.

With a great amount of luck, and a lot of help from every corner of the embassy, I received a lot of kudos for my role as control officer - from the Ambassador on down.  The visit went off without a hitch, and the Assistant Secretary had a number of succesful meetings with the Foreign Minister, the Buenos Aires provincial governor, and even the new Security Minister.  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I am really proud of this visit.  This kind of work really suits me, with its focus on organization and logistics and details.  I definitely look forward to more of this.