The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2013 25 Born on March 4, 1920, in Vienna, Austria, George W. Landau became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943, while serving in the U.S. Army. He entered the Foreign Service in 1957 and served in Uruguay, Spain, Canada and Washington, D.C., before being promoted into the Senior Foreign Service in 1969. He received a Superior Honor award from the depart- ment for his work on negoti- ating base agreements with Spain and Portugal. In 1972 he was appointed ambassador to Paraguay, where he served until 1977, and then to Chile, also for five years, until 1982. In both countries, Ambassador Landau skillfully navigated the daily challenges of deal- ing with dictatorships. By consistently stressing the importance of civil liberties and rule of law, he helped to lay the groundwork for democracy in both countries. His work in Latin America became so well-known that in 1980, Time magazine called him a “vigorous human rights advocate.” Amb. Landau played a crucial role in solving the murder of Chilean politician Orlando Letelier, an opponent of President Augusto Pinochet who died in a car bombing in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21, 1976. Prior to the bombing, which occurred while he was still chief of mission in Paraguay, Amb. Landau had the foresight to make copies of two suspicious visa appli- cations that turned out to be those of the perpetrators. Later, as ambassador to Chile, he overcame threats and bureaucratic obstacles to ensure that the key organizer of the bombing was extradited to the United States to face justice. His final Foreign Service assignment was as chief of mis- sion in Venezuela from 1982 to 1985. In the aftermath of “Black Friday”—Feb. 18, 1983, the day the Venezuelan govern- ment devalued the local currency and banned the purchase of U.S. dollars—Amb. Landau mediated between Caracas and U.S. commercial banks to reach an agreement on the coun- try’s debt. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1985 at the age of 65, Amb. Landau served as president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas for eight years, until 1993. In that position, he energetically built public and business support for broad trade liberalization, even as he applied his business experience and management expertise to return both institutions to financial health and restore their effec- tiveness. Under his leadership, AS/COA helped pave the way for the 1993 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. It also helped lay the foundation for the 2004 U.S.-Chile free trade agreement and the current Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. In recognition of his key role in trade promo- tion, Amb. Landau was twice appointed as a member of the board of the Export-Import Bank and received decora- tions from the governments of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ambassador George W. Landau, right, enjoys a light moment with President George Herbert Walker Bush at the Forum of the Americas in April 1992. Ankers, Andgerson & Gutts Photographers