The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

help for the poor, as their president? What really surprised me was that Fidel Castro’s Cuba — Venezuela’s impoverished Caribbean neighbor — was able to send 10,000 health experts, teachers and sports trainers for immediate remedial assistance to resource-rich Venezuela, a former U.S. ally. And that Chavez is buying military equipment from distant sup- pliers like China and Russia, sending U.S. policy-makers into extravagant rants. Hopefully, President Chavez will consult Clio, the muse of history, who will redirect him to the road toward hemispheric cooperation. And hope- fully, our own leaders will heed the probity of the good neighbor, ever ready to extend the hand of friend- ship to Venezuela, whose proud peo- ple value their historic ties to the United States. Stephen N. Sestanovich Ambassador, retired Moraga, Calif. Shared Ideas Bear Fruit It’s now been almost a quarter of a century since I retired: the Foreign Service has changed a great deal since my time. During my 37-year career I successfully negotiated two leaves of absence to pursue outside interests — something previously unheard of. Prior to this, officers who wanted “time out” were requir- ed to resign, and few were ever recommissioned. My first leave was to complete a Ph.D. at Harvard. The second was to respond to a cry for help from a friend who was dean of a university school of business to organize and staff an independent economics department to qualify his school for accreditation by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Following both experi- ences, the director general invited me to his office to discuss my experi- 12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 L E T T E R S u