People's ambassadors

Pony-tailed campaigning journalist

P resident Morales of Bolivia has asked the public to nominate people who would make good ambassadors, and has appointed as ambassador to Washington Gustavo Guzman, a "pony-tailed campaigning journalist" who doesn't speak much English, and says he is willing to wear a tie if necessary but not to have his hair cut.

Dull would he be of soul who did not feel a little excited at the thought that, whereas Bolivian diplomats in the past were all from "white European backgrounds", the aim now is to show that "Bolivia is a multiethnic country where everyone can have an opportunity."

There is a problem with these populist initiatives though: they quickly come to look a bit flyblown. Remember "people's peers", in the bright dawn of new Labour? It would be unkind to name them now - enough to say that if one were looking for 12 lords a-leaping to add gaiety to a Christmas party, one would look elsewhere. 11 lords (and four ladies) a-limping, yes maybe.

Let it not be thought, of course, that all Britain's diplomats wear striped pants. We have exotics ourselves, like Alastair Goodlad in Canberra and Paul Boateng in Pretoria. The democratically minded Americans appoint half or more of their ambassadors from outside what the French call "the career".

The first ambassador I ever knew, the American ambassador in Dublin 50 years ago, was I believe a meat packer by trade, and no doubt a generous contributor to Republican party funds. I never saw him sober.

The catch is that diplomats have a job to do. Writing his story for the Guardian, Duncan Campbell left out (as a journalist should) the boring bits of the news agency report from which he was quoting.

It seems that the ambassador, as well as pressing the Americans to extradite the former Bolivian president, will be "trying to persuade the US Congress to renew the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act".

Guzman will have one important asset: the fact that he is known to be close to the centre of power in his own capital. My French colleague when I was ambassador to Greece enjoyed the same asset, having been right in the centre of the Paris bureaucracy, in the Matignon, No 10's equivalent. But since he spoke neither Greek nor English he was a passenger, almost completely reliant on his staff and his diplomatic colleagues.

Guzman will find plenty of people who speak Spanish in Washington, but not many of them will be involved in extradition problems or the renewal of legislation.

When I was in the British embassy in Jeddah in the 70s the Turks appointed a woman as their consul. We all thought it a fine gesture. But if I had been a Turkish prisoner in a Saudi jail - and such people are a large part of a consul's job - I would not have been so enthusiastic about my government appointing someone who, professionally speaking, had both hands tied behind her back.

Some of the qualities an ambassador needs are patience, accuracy, judgment, and the ability to listen and talk effectively to people who may not wish to listen to him. Another is the ability to be boring, to go on saying the same thing day after day, sometimes year after year.

If Guzman has those qualities, good luck to him. If not, his English-speaking staff (possibly even from white European backgrounds) will have to do the job as best they can.

(The Guardian)