Christopher Landau's confirmation as Deputy Secretary of State is a triumph for freedom in the hemisphere

This March 24, the Senate confirmed diplomat Christopher Landau as the new US Deputy Secretary of State. His confirmation is undoubtedly great news for the hemisphere.

Landau was born in Madrid, Spain in November 1963, because his father, George Walter Landau, was a diplomat there. George Landau was a diplomat of great prestige and extensive experience. As a result of his father's work, Christopher Landau lived briefly in Spain, then in Paraguay, then several years, in Chile, between 1977 and 1982; and in Venezuela, between 1982 and 1985. George Landau was, then, the US ambassador to Caracas by appointment of Ronald Reagan.

Through his time in several Latin American countries, Christopher Landau learned to speak perfect Spanish. He went on to graduate from the Groton School in Massachusetts and in 1985 earned a certificate in Latin American Studies from Harvard University, from where he also earned his bachelor's degree summa cum laude in history. In fact, his senior thesis for Harvard was a research study on US relations with the Venezuelan government in the 1940s.

For his studies in law, he clerked at the Supreme Court of Justice on two occasions. First, he clerked for the legendary Judue Antonin Scalia and then served for the conservative Judge Clarence Thomas.

Landau taught law classes at Georgetown and in 2017 Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Also, within the Supreme Court, Landau was a member of the Historical Society. From there, he served as director of the Diplomacy Center Foundation, within the State Department.

In March 2019, Donald Trump nominated Landau to serve as ambassador to one of the most important countries for the United States - Mexico. His post was confirmed in August 2019 and, as ambassador, he presided over what was until then the largest US diplomatic mission and achieved unprecedented bilateral cooperation with the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Landau had the merit of preserving good relations between the United States and Mexico, despite the ideological distance between the two presidents. His efforts led to the ratification and entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

His time in Mexico, where he stayed until January 2021, is remembered by both colleagues and Mexican diplomacy with great respect.

Landau is known for being a vocal advocate for freedom in the hemisphere with an intimate knowledge of communist regimes, such as Venezuela and Cuba, which still threaten regional stability.

The now Deputy Secretary of State has been one of the strongest voices against the regime of Nicolás Maduro. In July last year, Landau strongly denounced the electoral robbery perpetrated by Maduro and strongly supported opposition leader María Corina Machado, with whom he has very good relations.

By joining a State Department under the authority of Marco Rubio, Trump formed what is today the most knowledgeable and hemisphere-friendly diplomatic leadership in the history of the United States. The duo of Landau and Rubio is now assuming an importance for the hemisphere that it has never had before and that has always been demanded from Washington.

Landau will help Rubio to get the United States to resume, under the principle of America First, a sort of Monroe Doctrine. The interests of the United States today lie, as Landau himself has said, in specifying what is incumbent on the United States and what is not. A secure hemisphere, as Rubio and Landau understand it, certainly matters to the Make America Great Again agenda. There is no one better to help in that role than diplomat Christopher Landau. His confirmation is a triumph for freedom in the hemisphere.