The Foreign Service Journal, February 2013

70 FEBRUARY 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Asia, Mr. Stubbs in his later years actively sought to promote a better understanding of that area among Americans. He served for six years as a member of the executive committee of the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, and was a frequent lecturer on Asian studies at numerous educational institutions in the region. He was often a guest lecturer on cruise ships in Asia and other parts of the world. During his years in Hong Kong, Mr. Stubbs served as vice president of the Foreign Correspondents Club. He was also a member of the Bangkok Foreign Cor- respondents Club, the American Foreign Service Association, Diplomatic and Con- sular Officers, Retired and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. William Stubbs is survived by his wife of 29 years, Antoinette Atienza Stubbs of Ocala; two sons, Christopher of Cam- bridge, Mass., and Robert of Shillinglee, U.K.; three stepchildren, Miriam Smith, Marie Sison and Peter Sison; four grand- children; six step-grandchildren; one step great-grandchild, Nicholas Rodillas; and two sisters, Rachael “Binky” Farris and Carolyn Aschemeyer. n Viron Peter (“Pete”) Vaky, 87, a career FSO and ambassador to three countries, died on Nov. 22 of pneumonia at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community inMitchellville, Md. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, to Greek immigrant parents, Mr. Vaky graduated fromGeorgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1947 and received a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago in 1948. During WorldWar II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Mr. Vaky joined the Foreign Service in 1949, beginning a distinguished 31-year diplomatic career focused primarily on South and Central America. His overseas assignments included Guayaquil, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Guatemala, San José and Caracas. He also attended the National War College, class of 1964. InWashington, Mr. Vaky served as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council (1967-1968), and as senior staffmember for Latin America on the National Security Council (1969-1970). From 1970 to 1972 he was diplomat-in-res- idence at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He served as United States ambassa- dor to Costa Rica (1972-1974), Colombia (1974-1976) and Venezuela (1976-1978). In July 1978, Ambassador Vaky was appointed assistant secretary of State for inter-American affairs, a position he held until his retirement from the Foreign Ser- vice on Jan. 1, 1980. Amb. Vaky was known for promot- ing a far-reaching vision of hemispheric relations based on American values and for eschewing opportunistic shortcuts. He guided U.S. policy during periods of volatility in relations with Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. In particular, he helped coordinate the transition of the Panama Canal fromAmerican to Pana- manian control, and helped negotiate the release of U.S. Ambassador Diego Asencio and other diplomats taken hostage in Colombia in 1980. A year before, in 1979, he had tried to persuade Nicaraguan strongman Anasta- sio Somoza Debayle to give up power dur- ing what became known as the Sandinista Revolution. Somoza refused, and the rest is history. Earlier, in 1968, as DCM in Guatemala, Amb. Vaky had written a memo to his superiors at the State Department, oppos- ing U.S. support for the counterterrorist practices of the Guatemalan government. At the time, kidnapping, brutal interroga- tions and political assassinations of sus- pected communists by state-sanctioned security forces were all common. In the memo, which remained clas- sified for 30 years, Vaky wrote that it was morally wrong to ignore “the violence of right-wing vigilantes and sheer criminal- ity” of the Guatemalan regime. “In the minds of many in Latin America, we are believed to have condoned these tactics, if not actually to have encouraged them.” As the Washington Post ’s Matt Schudel reports, the memo became known as a touchstone of diplomatic conscience and courage. And in 1999, after it was declassi- fied, President Bill Clinton visited Guate- mala and apologized for U.S. support of the country’s repressive regimes in the past. Following his retirement, Amb. Vaky served as associate dean and research professor in diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service until 1985, and as adjunct professor of diplo- macy until 1994. From 1985 to 1992 he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue from 1994 to 2010. He was a charter member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation. Formerly a member of the Commis- sion on Peace of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Amb. Vaky chaired its Com- mittee of Inquiry, which produced two studies on the nuclear dilemma and the post-ColdWar world. He was a member of the Washington National Cathedral Chap- ter from 1986 to 1994. Amb. Vaky is survived by his wife of 63 years, Luann Colburn Vaky of Mitch- ellville; three sons, Peter Colburn Vaky of Atlanta, Ga., Paul Stephan Vaky of Bogotá, Colombia, and Matthew Alex- ander Vaky of Gaithersburg, Md.; and 10 grandchildren. n