MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biden administration picks replacement for Asunción Embassy

Escobar still needs the Senate's nod to replace Ostfield

The US Government of President Joseph Biden has picked career diplomat Gabriel Escobar to take over from Marc Ostfield as the next Ambassador to Asunción, it was reported Tuesday. Escobar still needs the Senate's nod.

 The highly decorated Escobar is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and Cathedral High School in El Paso, Texas. He is reported to be fluent in Spanish, Russian, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech, and Portuguese, in addition to English.

Until May 31, he has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, overseeing policy toward the Western Balkan countries and the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy. Before that, was second-in-command at the US Embassy in Belgrade.

Other appointments throughout his career include roles at the US Embassies in Baghdad (Iraq) and La Paz (Bolivia) and as Coordinator for Cuban Affairs in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2017 to 2018, as well as consul general in Peshawar, Pakistan. He was also active from 1998 to 2001 in the former Yugoslavia.

In the Bureau of European Affairs, he served as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the Embassy in Lisbon, Deputy Political Counselor in Rome, Political-Military Officer in Prague, and Deputy Consul in Moscow.

Ostfield has been at odds with Paraguay's ruling National Republican Association (ANR), also known as the Colorado Party. He was instrumental in declaring former President Horacio Cartes and former Vice President Hugo Velázquez “significantly corrupt,” although the two of them belong to different factions within the political force. Cartes currently chairs the ANR after mentoring Santiago Peña's successful presidential bid.

Paraguay was also hit by the 2022 assassination of Prosecutor Marcelo Pecci while honeymooning in Colombia. Pecci was believed to be a key ally in the US anti-drug policy. Washington DC has offered a US$ reward for any help finding the person or persons who masterminded the State Attorney's murder, while the actual perpetrators were caught and convicted in Colombia.

At any rate, Ostfield's departure would spell some relief to the ANR leadership, according to political analysts in Asunción.