The committee's 15-3 vote on Noriega, the current U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, came after a series of behind-the-scene battles between Capitol Hill and the State Department over a demand by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to review a classified ''end of tour'' cable issued by the former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana before leaving the post about 10 months ago.***
Latin Americans hail the new U.S. policy chief***WASHINGTON - After years of feeling all but forgotten by Washington, Latin American officials Wednesday welcomed Roger Noriega's confirmation as the first Senate-approved assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since 1999.
''This is one of the best decisions the Senate has made in more than five years,'' El Salvador Ambassador Rene Antonio León Rodríguez said after the Senate vote late Tuesday. ``U.S. policy will have a champion now. And the region will finally get the attention it deserves.''
Noriega's confirmation came after a long delay because Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had been blocking the vote for months in an effort to force a Senate vote on his proposal for easing restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba.
………Baucus aides said he lifted his ''hold'' on Noriega's confirmation after a compromise in which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose leaders had been holding up his proposals on Cuba travel, will vote on his bill this fall.
''We expect it to pass the committee overwhelmingly,'' said Laura Hays, a spokeswoman for Baucus, who is planning a trip to Cuba in September. ``This is a great accomplishment.''***