Ambassador Odeen IshmaelOdeen Ishmael was appointed to Venezuela in November 2003

Odeen Ishmael, born in 1948, was appointed Ambassador of Guyana to Venezuela in November 2003. Previous to this appointment, he served from 1993 to 2003 as Ambassador to the United States of America and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS). During his tenure in the United States, he became dean of the diplomatic corps for Latin America and the Caribbean. Ambassador Ishmael previously worked as a teacher and achieved in the 1980s the status of deputy headmaster in the Guyana school system. As a member of the Ministry of Education's Social Studies Curriculum Committee, he and a small team drafted and tested the Social Studies syllabus for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) in the mid-1970s. Working in the areas of both secondary and adult education, he also taught in The Bahamas from 1985 to 1993. And in a break away from teaching in 1970-1971, he worked in the information department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.