Philip T. Chicola

Philip T. Chicola (born 1946) is a retired Career Foreign Service Officer who served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Brazil from November 2005 until November 2006.

[2] Raúl Reyes, described as a “senior Colombian guerrilla leader killed in Ecuador” in 2008, had a secret meeting with US diplomats in December 1998.

At the time, he was director of the State Department's Office of Andean Affairs.

[3] Despite that, a State Department spokesman at the time said “this does not preclude meeting with FARC ``or any other foreign terrorist organization if we determine that such a meeting is consistent with our interests, including bringing an end to Colombia’s long-running civil conflict and to the terrorist attacks that accompany it.″”[4] At the time, US policy focused on what could be done to halt drug trafficking.

Chicola's mission in meeting with FARC leaders was to discuss their willingness to help eliminate drug crops in the areas they control.