US-Cuba Rela­tions: A United States Perspective

October 24, 2003 - 4:30 PM

Kevin Whitaker
Coor­di­na­tor Office of Cuban Affairs, US Depart­ment of State

Kevin Whitaker has been coor­di­na­tor in the Office of Cuban Affairs since Sep­tem­ber, 2002. Prior to this assign­ment, he served as deputy in Cuban affairs, deputy for Mex­i­can Affairs, and as polit­i­cal coun­selor in Nicaragua. Mr. Whitaker’s other assign­ments over his 24-year career include serv­ing as desk offi­cer for El Sal­vador and France, as well as work­ing as polit­i­cal offi­cer in Jamaica and Hon­duras. Dur­ing his career Mr. Whitaker has focused rela­tions with Latin Amer­ica, and in par­tic­u­lar on Cen­tral Amer­ica and the Caribbean.
Mr. Whitaker is a career mem­ber of the Senior For­eign Ser­vice, and has been awarded the Depart­ment of State’s Supe­rior Honor Award twice and its Mer­i­to­ri­ous Honor Award three times. He is a 1979 grad­u­ate of the Uni­ver­sity of Vir­ginia. His wife, Eliz­a­beth Whitaker, is also a Senior For­eign Ser­vice offi­cer, and serves as the Deputy Exec­u­tive Sec­re­tary of the Depart­ment of State. They have three boys: Stu­art and Thomas, age 19, and Daniel, age 9.