Larry Leon Palmer

Larry Palmer
United States Ambassador to Grenada
Incumbent
Assumed office June 28, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Saint Kitts and Nevis
Incumbent
Assumed office June 26, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda
Incumbent
Assumed office June 25, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Incumbent
Assumed office June 7, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Saint Lucia
Incumbent
Assumed office June 4, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Dominica
Incumbent
Assumed office May 30, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Barbados
Incumbent
Assumed office May 22, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
Special Representative to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
Incumbent
Assumed office April 2, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Christopher Sandrolini (Acting)
Succeeded by	Linda Taglialatela (Designate)
United States Ambassador to Honduras
In office October 8, 2002 – May 7, 2005
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Frank Almaguer
Succeeded by	Charles Ford
Personal details
Born	1948 (age 67–68) Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	Emory University Texas Southern University Indiana University, Bloomington

Larry Leon Palmer (born c. 1948) is an American diplomat, appointed to serve as the United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean in 2012.^[1] He was the United States Ambassador to Honduras from 2002–2005. He also served as the President of the Inter-American Foundation from 2005 to June 2010.^[2]

Background

Larry Palmer was born in Augusta, Georgia. He graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in 1970 and completed his graduate training at Texas Southern University (M.Ed., African History, 1973) and Indiana University at Bloomington (Ed. D., Higher Education Administration and African Studies, 1978). While at Emory, he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.

Career

Palmer served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa from 1971 to 1973. He then worked as assistant director of financial aid at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (1973–1974), and as a professor of history at Cuttington College in Suakoko, Liberia (1974–1976), and at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (1978–1981).

Palmer entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1982. He served as vice consul in the Dominican Republic (1982–1984), and then as personnel officer in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Asuncion, Paraguay, from 1984 to 1986. He worked in the State Department as staff assistant to the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs from 1986–87 and then served as counselor for administration in Freetown, Sierra Leone from 1987 to 1989.^[3]

In 1989, Palmer became a Pearson Fellow, serving as assistant to the president of the University of Texas at El Paso. His portfolio was advancing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), creating faculty and student exchange opportunities in universities throughout Mexico, and serving as university consultant for International Affairs. At the end of two years as a Pearson Fellow, Palmer left to serve as personnel officer in Seoul, South Korea, (1991–1994), and later served as counselor for administration in the Dominican Republic (1994–1998).^[3]

From 1998-1999, he attended the Senior Seminar. He arrived in Quito, Ecuador to begin a tour as Deputy Chief of Mission in August 1999. He finished his tour in Quito as Chargé d'Affaires In July 2002.

Palmer was sworn in as United States Ambassador to Honduras on September 9, 2002, by Secretary of State Colin Powell and delivered his credentials to the Honduran President Ricardo Maduro on October 9, 2002.^[4] On June 28, 2010 President Obama nominated Palmer as United States Ambassador to Venezuela.^[5] However, a start date as new ambassador to Venezuela wasn't announced.^[6] On September 19, 2010, President Hugo Chávez announced on his weekly TV program that he would not allow Larry Palmer to take up his post in Caracas. Chávez's refusal is based on Palmer having recently told a US senator that morale in the Venezuelan army was low and that members of Chávez's government had ties to leftist Colombian rebels.^[7] On December 28, 2010, Chavez defied the Obama administration's appointment of Palmer as ambassador to Venezuela and flatly refused him, accusing him of having made disrespectful remarks about Venezuela. In response, on December 29 the U.S. revoked the visa of Venezuela's ambassador, Bernardo Álvarez Herrera.^[8]

Palmer was appointed to serve as the United States Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean in 2012.^[1] In this post, he serves concurrently as the ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

References

1. Embassy of the United States - Barbados & E. Caribbean (2012), Congress Confirms Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, U.S. Department of State, retrieved May 21, 2012.
2. Inter-American Foundation IAF’s New President Begins
3. White House, 5 June 2002, President Bush to Nominate Seven Individuals to Serve in His Administration
4. US State department, Larry L. Palmer
5. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 6/28/10 | The White House". Whitehouse.gov. 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
6. Molinski, Dan (2011-02-03). "U.S. Names Larry Palmer New Venezuela Ambassador Amid Strained Relations. - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
7. "Chávez rejects newly nominated US ambassador to Caracas". BuenosAiresHerald.com. 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
8. Lee, M. J. (December 30, 2010). "Chavez's ambassador is expelled". Politico.