rom experience people will note that countries around the world send their very best to represent them as diplomats in Washington. The countries charge them with the responsibilities for furthering the national interests and require them to do everything possible to develop or deepen the ties with friendly organizations and key policy makers.
Switzerland is a country that has earned a unique position in international affairs not only by neutrality but also by an active role in dispute resolution. The country is known for innovation and finding creative solutions to some vexing problems. Over a long period, the diplomats sent from Switzerland to Washington have established a distinguished record. The annual Swiss Days at the Wilson Center focusing on a number of areas where Switzerland and the country’s investments in US are among the examples of the contributions made by Swiss diplomats like former Ambassador Martin Dahinden in Washington.
Switzerland is now represented by H.E. Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud and his charming wife Madame Angelique Gakako Pitteloud who shares the burden. They are both outstanding individuals in their own right.
Since joining the Swiss Foreign Service in 1987, Ambassador Pitteloud has performed so many roles in his remarkable career, which includes his work in the Swiss Strategic Intelligence Service, as Director for Arms Control, Disarmament, Security Policy and Intelligence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Somalia and the Seychelles. Before coming to the United States, Ambassador Pitteloud held a very important position as the Resources Director of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) – an organization of 5,400 staff members and a budget of $3 billion - with the responsibility of managing all FDFA buildings both in Switzerland and abroad.
While working in Africa, he witnessed the Rwandan genocide in 1994 which inspired him to create an organization for hunting down the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. He succeeded in having several of them prosecuted by both international as well as domestic courts. Ambassador Pitteloud pursued these criminals with laser like focus and the will to succeed. He also cared about the survivors of the genocide. During this process he met his wife Madame Pitteloud who is Swiss and Rwandese, a film producer, a writer and a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Describing her experience during this calamity she that the Rwandan genocide “shaped my consciousness forever and left me with a feeling of dread that it can happen again.”
Through her ordeals, Madame Pitteloud became a passionate defender of human rights using film, books and documentaries as tools for creating awareness and advocacy. She became the founder of Pro-human equality, “an advocacy organization that works through the media to address social justice and culture and to tell success stories”.
The documentary film “Who Am I” produced by Madame Pitteloud received great reviews at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam and Montreal’s African Film Festival. For example, famous actor Nick Redding wrote that the film “gives an enlightened voice to the tribal and religious fissures that are growing in Kenya society, providing a voice of wisdom and compassion, all with the inherent child’s understanding of fairness.”
As a diplomat's wife, Madame Pitteloud embodies the proposition that behind every successful man is a woman – confident, successful and beautiful in every respect. Within a few months of their arrival in Washington, this elegant couple worked hard as a team not only together but also with an energized and motivated staff to put together a series of imaginative and fascinating events during the Black History during February 2020. The month began with an evening at their residence with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch talking about his book “A Fool’s Errand – Creating the Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama and Trump.” This was followed by the screening of “Ruby Ridges” – the first African American student to integrate in her New Orleans elementary school, whose mother sadly passed away recently. Ms. Euzhan Palcy, the award-winning director of this film was invited to discuss this remarkable film in an event moderated by Ms. Pauline Simonet, a correspondent for the French media.
The Coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted so many aspects of life, but it has not brought an end to Swiss ingenuity and determination at Swiss Embassy in Washington. Soiree Suisse, which is a unique and sought-after event in Washington normally bringing in a large number of friends of Switzerland together at the Embassy, became a virtual event this year and it was just a wonderful – due to the creativity and the elegance of Ambassador Pitteloud and Madame Pitteloud working together with their team.
Winds of change sometimes blow from east to west and at other times in the reverse direction. For the last few years, however, it has been more like a terrible tornado from within raining chaos in all directions. Now after the US elections, things might be breaking for sanity with the incoming administration of the first female Vice-President, who also happens to be of African American and Indian descent and a President-Elect not beholden to petty grudges. As it has been said, “to everything there is a season… (Ecclesiastes 3:1).” So this could very well be a very good season for diplomacy and for an elegant Swiss diplomatic couple to be in Washington now.
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The Elegant Swiss Diplomatic Couple
November 28, 2020
F
rom experience people will note that countries around the world send their very best to represent them as diplomats in Washington. The countries charge them with the responsibilities for furthering the national interests and require them to do everything possible to develop or deepen the ties with friendly organizations and key policy makers.
Switzerland is a country that has earned a unique position in international affairs not only by neutrality but also by an active role in dispute resolution. The country is known for innovation and finding creative solutions to some vexing problems. Over a long period, the diplomats sent from Switzerland to Washington have established a distinguished record. The annual Swiss Days at the Wilson Center focusing on a number of areas where Switzerland and the country’s investments in US are among the examples of the contributions made by Swiss diplomats like former Ambassador Martin Dahinden in Washington.
Switzerland is now represented by H.E. Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud and his charming wife Madame Angelique Gakako Pitteloud who shares the burden. They are both outstanding individuals in their own right.
Since joining the Swiss Foreign Service in 1987, Ambassador Pitteloud has performed so many roles in his remarkable career, which includes his work in the Swiss Strategic Intelligence Service, as Director for Arms Control, Disarmament, Security Policy and Intelligence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Somalia and the Seychelles. Before coming to the United States, Ambassador Pitteloud held a very important position as the Resources Director of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) – an organization of 5,400 staff members and a budget of $3 billion - with the responsibility of managing all FDFA buildings both in Switzerland and abroad.
While working in Africa, he witnessed the Rwandan genocide in 1994 which inspired him to create an organization for hunting down the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. He succeeded in having several of them prosecuted by both international as well as domestic courts. Ambassador Pitteloud pursued these criminals with laser like focus and the will to succeed. He also cared about the survivors of the genocide. During this process he met his wife Madame Pitteloud who is Swiss and Rwandese, a film producer, a writer and a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Describing her experience during this calamity she that the Rwandan genocide “shaped my consciousness forever and left me with a feeling of dread that it can happen again.”
Through her ordeals, Madame Pitteloud became a passionate defender of human rights using film, books and documentaries as tools for creating awareness and advocacy. She became the founder of Pro-human equality, “an advocacy organization that works through the media to address social justice and culture and to tell success stories”.
The documentary film “Who Am I” produced by Madame Pitteloud received great reviews at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam and Montreal’s African Film Festival. For example, famous actor Nick Redding wrote that the film “gives an enlightened voice to the tribal and religious fissures that are growing in Kenya society, providing a voice of wisdom and compassion, all with the inherent child’s understanding of fairness.”
As a diplomat's wife, Madame Pitteloud embodies the proposition that behind every successful man is a woman – confident, successful and beautiful in every respect. Within a few months of their arrival in Washington, this elegant couple worked hard as a team not only together but also with an energized and motivated staff to put together a series of imaginative and fascinating events during the Black History during February 2020. The month began with an evening at their residence with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch talking about his book “A Fool’s Errand – Creating the Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama and Trump.” This was followed by the screening of “Ruby Ridges” – the first African American student to integrate in her New Orleans elementary school, whose mother sadly passed away recently. Ms. Euzhan Palcy, the award-winning director of this film was invited to discuss this remarkable film in an event moderated by Ms. Pauline Simonet, a correspondent for the French media.
The Coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted so many aspects of life, but it has not brought an end to Swiss ingenuity and determination at Swiss Embassy in Washington. Soiree Suisse, which is a unique and sought-after event in Washington normally bringing in a large number of friends of Switzerland together at the Embassy, became a virtual event this year and it was just a wonderful – due to the creativity and the elegance of Ambassador Pitteloud and Madame Pitteloud working together with their team.
Winds of change sometimes blow from east to west and at other times in the reverse direction. For the last few years, however, it has been more like a terrible tornado from within raining chaos in all directions. Now after the US elections, things might be breaking for sanity with the incoming administration of the first female Vice-President, who also happens to be of African American and Indian descent and a President-Elect not beholden to petty grudges. As it has been said, “to everything there is a season… (Ecclesiastes 3:1).” So this could very well be a very good season for diplomacy and for an elegant Swiss diplomatic couple to be in Washington now.
