Vanessa Neumann

Vanessa Neumann (born 1972, Caracas) is a Venezuelan-American diplomat, business owner, author and political theorist.[1][2] Neumann is the president and founder of Asymmetrica, a political risk research and strategic communications firm headquartered in New York City and Washington, D.C.[3] Neumann served for four years on the OECD's Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade,[4] and is a current consultant to UN Women on gender-based approaches to preventing and countering violent extremism. She is the author of the 2017 book Blood Profits: How American Consumers Unwittingly Fund Terrorists, as well as its 2018 Brazilian edition, Lucros de Sangue.

During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, a plenary session of the Venezuelan National Assembly approved her appointment as ambassador for the acting President Juan Guaidó. She was appointed Ambassador and Chief of Mission for Venezuela to the Court of St. James's in the United Kingdom.[5] The administration of Nicolás Maduro does not recognize Guaido's diplomats. In 2020, Neumann was a central figure in the historic (London) High Court decision that "unequivocally" recognized the legitimacy of the presidency of Juan Guaidó over that of Nicolás Maduro.[6]

Early life

Vanessa Neumann was born in Caracas, Venezuela to Michal (Miguel) Neumann (1947-1992) and Antonia Donnelly (1947-2015). Miguel Neumann was the son of entrepreneurs Hans and Milada Neumann, Jews who emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Venezuela in 1949.[7] Antonia Donnelly de Neumann was an American of Irish and Italian descent.[8] Neumann's grandfather, Hans Neumann, co-founded Corimon (Corporación Industrial Montana), which had its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on March 23, 1993,[9] and Fundación Neumann, a philanthropic foundation with the twin missions of cultural education and poverty alleviation programs. They also established the Instituto de Diseño Neumann, and were co-founders of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Sofia Imber and the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), which, under the guidance of Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, taught American business administration.[10] For a quarter century, Hans Neumann was also the major shareholder of the Mustique Company,[11][12] which owns the island of Mustique.[13] He also owned two newspapers in Venezuela: the English-language The Daily Journal, and Tal Cual. Mila Neumann was given the Order of Francisco de Miranda. Miguel Neumann founded Intercomunica, which produced a television series interviewing political leaders on the world stage and a series of books on Venezuelan cinema and culture. Miguel Neumann also owned the Spanish winery Vega Sicilia.[14]

As a child in Caracas, Neumann was educated at the Santiago de León and then the Humboldt Schule, where she learned German.

Professional career

Neumann received her B.A. (1994), M.A. (1998), M.Phil. (2000), and Ph.D. (2004) from Columbia University, where she submitted her doctoral dissertation, "Autonomy and Legitimacy of States: A Critical Approach to Foreign Intervention," under the tutelage of Rawlsian scholar Thomas Pogge.[15]

In the 1990s, Neumann worked as a journalist in Caracas for English-language newspaper The Daily Journal, and then in corporate planning and finance at Venezuelan petrochemicals conglomerate Corimon, the time of its ADR listing on the NYSE. After receiving her B.A.in 1994, she interned under Venezuela's Minister Counselor for Petroleum Affairs at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, and was part of the team that brought the first case before the World Trade Organization. She then returned to the private sector and New York City to work as a purchasing agent at Blue Channel Chemicals, which negotiated bulk purchases of raw materials for Corimon.

While pursuing her doctorate, she volunteered for UNICEF for four years, starting in 2001,[16] raising funds from individual and corporate donors and traveling to Tanzania to coordinate with the local health administration on tetanus vaccinations. At the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) in Canberra, Australia, in 2006, she supported Thomas Pogge's research into reform of the global institutional order for the alleviation of extreme poverty. While working as adjunct assistant professor of philosophy at Hunter College of The City University of New York, she was also an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, where she conducted research into Latin American security, particularly the role of Venezuela in providing haven and funding for the Colombian FARC guerrilla movement. She became editor-at-large for Diplomat, a UK magazine on diplomacy in the UK and EU.[17] In 2009 - 2010, Neumann worked in the field in Colombia on the reintegration of paramilitaries. In 2013, the year Vanessa Neumann, Inc. became Asymmetrica, Neumann was the academic reviewer for the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) teaching text on counterinsurgency in Colombia.[18]

Neumann's academic talks are centered on three areas of research: Venezuela,[19][20][21] crime-terror pipelines,[22][23][24][25] and foreign investment (particularly from China) in the Latin American energy sector.[26][27] She is also a cited expert on illicit financial flows from Chinese counterfeiting.[28]

Neumann is a commentator on politics and a vocal critic of the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro regimes, and she cites organized crime conducted by them as a cause of oppression in her native Venezuela.[19] Her book Blood Profits: How American Consumers Unwittingly Fund Terrorists has drawn support from exiled Venezuelan opposition leaders[21] and she cites organized crime by the Maduro regime as a cause of the economic collapse and human rights violations in her native Venezuela.[20]

Neumann has published articles in The Wall Street Journal,[29] The Daily Beast,[30][31] The (London) Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Weekly Standard, Standpoint and many other publications. She appears regularly on CNN, CNNE, Fox Business,[32] Al Jazeera, NTN24, GloboTV, and other networks. She is a regular guest on Varney & Co.. Her written work has been used by the Department of State[33] and the American Enterprise Institute.[26] Neumann's research on Venezuela and crime-terror pipelines has been cited in Matthew Levitt's book Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God (Washington, DC: Georgetown UP, 2013) and Louise Shelley's Dirty Entanglements: Corruption, Crime and Terrorism (New York: Cambridge UP, 2014), among other works.

Neumann founded Asymmetrica in New York in 2010 as Vanessa Neumann, Inc., a consultancy conducting research and government affairs to counter illicit trade and finance. It was renamed Asymmetrica Limited in 2013.[34] It is part of the research network for the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate.[3] Asymmetrica has expanded to help private clients identify reliable partners and bridge relationships across Western Hemisphere industry and governments, and build detailed risk scenarios for investment funds totaling over $1 trillion AUM.

During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, a plenary session of Venezuela's National Assembly endorsed acting president Juan Guaidó's appointment of Neumann as his Ambassador and Chief of Mission to the Court of St. James (the UK).[5]

Neumann was a central figure in a landmark trial on who controls Venezuela's national gold reserves held at the Bank of England (Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó) that took place in London's High Court, 22-25 June 2020.[35] On the day the trial started, Neumann stated clearly the purpose of the trial: “The gold in the vaults in the Bank of England is our national reserves. It belongs to our people, to secure our nation’s future.”[36] On 2 July 2020, Justice Nigel Teare issued his decision: Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom "unequivocally" recognizes[37] Juan Guaidó as the president of Venezuela.[38] In The Wall Street Journal,[39] Juan Guaidó stated: “This is a grand victory for us in the area of international law," and Neumann stated: "It’s a national reserve, it’s safeguarded for the future, for the reconstruction of the country in the democratic system.” To the Financial Times, Neumann declared: "The verdict is a victory for the people of Venezuela and for the rule of law more generally. It highlights the importance of a judiciary that is independent and non-political."[40] On 5 July 2020, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sent a letter to Juan Guaidó congratulating the Venezuelan people on their Independence Day celebrations.[41]

Current affiliations[42]

  • Global Counter-Terrorism Research Network (GCTRN), United Nations Security Council, New York, NY. Since 2015.
  • Fellow, Global Justice Program, Yale University; New Haven, CT. Since 2014.
  • Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute; Philadelphia, PA. Since 2011.
  • Associate, University Seminar on Latin America, Columbia University; New York, NY. Since 2010.

Personal life

Neumann dated Mick Jagger in 1998. Their relationship ended in 2002. She was later engaged to Scottish landowner William Stirling. Neumann married William Cash, son of Sir William Cash, a British Conservative politician and Member of Parliament for Stone. They divorced in 2010.[43]

Vanessa Neumann is a passionate horseback rider and a certified open water, advanced deep water diver. In January 2014 she attained her PADI certification as an enriched air diver, known as nitrox diving.

Books
  • Neumann, Vanessa Antonia (2004). Autonomy and Legitimacy of States: A Critical Approach to Foreign Intervention. Dissertation, Columbia University.
  • Neumann, Vanessa (2017). Blood Profits: How American Consumers Unwittingly Fund Terrorists. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-250-08935-9.
  • Neumann, Vanessa (2018). Lucros de sangue: Como o consumidor financia o terrorismo. Matrix Editora. ISBN 978-8-582-30500-3

References
  1. Wolper, Allan (30 June 2017). "Dr. Vanessa Neumann: Blood Profits, Terrorism, International Drug Trafficking". WBGO.
  2. Wolper, Allan (15 December 2014). "Conversations With Allan Wolper". WBGO – via Public Radio Exchange.
  3. "Team of experts". Asymmetrica. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. OECD (2016). Illicit Trade: Converging Criminal Networks. OECD Reviews of Risk Management Policies. Paris: OECD Publishing. p. 7. doi:10.1787/9789264251847-en. ISBN 978-92-64-25184-7.
  5. "Asamblea Nacional designa seis nuevos embajadores para Europa y África". www.asambleanacional.gob.ve. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  6. "Venezuela's rival leaders begin tug-of-war over London gold". Reuters. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  7. www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/When-Time-Stopped-Fathers-Remains/dp/1982106379. Retrieved 8 July 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "Ambassador Neumann". Venezuelan Embassy in the UK and Ireland.
  9. "History". Corimon. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  10. "Innovación en procesos y modelos de negocios - IESA Escuela de gerencia con cuatro acreditaciones internacionales". www.iesa.edu.ve. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  11. Haskell, Rob (17 January 2017). "Why the Jet Set is Obsessed with Mustique, the World's Most Glamorous "Healthy Addiction"". W.
  12. Aitkenhead, Decca (2 February 1997). "A Tale of Two Communities". The Independent. London.
  13. Barker, Dennis (29 August 2010). "Lord Glenconner obituary". The Guardian.
  14. Mount, Ian (19 July 2014). "A Family Feud, Uncorked in Spain". The New York Times.
  15. "Doctoral Dissertations Supervised or Co-Supervised – Thomas Pogge". campuspress.yale.edu. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  16. Ryan, Susan (26 March 2002). "I wrote a cheque but couldn't stop there". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  17. "After Hugo Chávez: China's Strategic Advance in Venezuela". American Enterprise Institute.
  18. "Dr. Vanessa Neumann". S.H.E. Summit.
  19. "Neumann: Venezuela está regida por un cartel de drogas, no por un gobierno". El Nacional (in Spanish). 16 August 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  20. Neumann, Vanessa (28 December 2017). "Vanessa Neumann: Venezuela vive las consecuencias del crimen organizado". El Estímulo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  21. "Presentaron Blood Profits, un texto sobre crimen organizado en Venezuela". El Nacional (in Spanish). 28 December 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  22. "Crime-Terror Pipelines: The Case of Iran and Latin America". Foreign Policy Research Institute.
  23. "Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Combating Crime-Terror Pipelines: Dismantling Converging Threat Networks to Strengthen Global Security". 2012.
  24. "Vanessa Neumann, President and CEO of Asymmetrica, to Discuss Illicit Trade, Organized Crime and Terror Groups at Rutgers University-Newark" (Press release). Rutgers Today.
  25. "Vanessa Neumann, President and CEO of Asymmetrica, to Discuss Illicit Trade, Organized Crime and Terror Groups at Rutgers University-Newark". Rutgers Today. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  26. Neumann, Vanessa (12 April 2012). "China in Venezuela American Enterprise Institute".
  27. Neumann, Vanessa (1 May 2012). "China goes shopping in latin america".
  28. Neumann, Vanessa (25 December 2017). "Take a Tour of the Red-Hot Center of Chinese Counterfeiting". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  29. Neumann, Vanessa (10 July 2017). "The Venezuelan Regime Is Coming Apart". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  30. Neumann, Dr Vanessa (1 June 2017). "How Goldman Sachs Is Ruining My Venezuela". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  31. Neumann, Dr Vanessa (27 April 2017). "Russia Gave to Citgo, Then Citgo Gave to Trump". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  32. "U.S. hits Venezuelan president with sanctions". Fox Business. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  33. "The Crime-Terror Panorama: Converging Threat Networks Across the Global Illegal Economy/Criminalized Markets and Their Impact on National Security". U.S. Department of State.
  34. "Dr. Vanessa Neumann". Division of Global Affairs. Rutgers.
  35. "Venezuela's rival leaders begin tug-of-war over London gold". Reuters. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  36. Meredith, Sam (24 June 2020). "Venezuela's rival leaders in legal battle to determine fate of over $1 billion gold reserves held in London". CNBC. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  37. Peltier, Elian; Kurmanaev, Anatoly (2 July 2020). "Nicolás Maduro Can't Sell Venezuelan Gold at Bank of England, Court Rules". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  38. Stott, Michael (2 July 2020). "UK court rejects Maduro's claim on $1bn of Venezuelan gold held by Bank of England". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  39. Colombia, Jason Douglas in London and Kejal Vyas in Bogotá (2 July 2020). "Venezuelan Leader Maduro's Claim for Gold Held in U.K. Is Rejected". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  40. Stott, Michael (2 July 2020). "UK court rejects Maduro's claim on $1bn of Venezuelan gold held by Bank of England". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  41. "Reina Isabell II felicita al Presidente Guaidó por el Día de la Independencia de Venezuela". Presidencia Venezuela (in Spanish). 5 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  42. "Vanessa Neumann LinkedIn profile".
  43. "Never Mind the Age Gap: let's hope it's third time lucky for William Cash". Evening Standard. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
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