Latin Americans hail the new U.S. policy chief.

Byline: Nancy San Martin

WASHINGTON _ After years of feeling all but forgotten by Washington, Latin American officials are welcoming Roger Noriega's confirmation as the first Senate-approved assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since 1999.

''This is one of the best decisions the Senate has made in more than five years,'' El Salvador Ambassador Rene Antonio Leon Rodriguez said after the Senate vote late Tuesday. ``U.S. policy will have a champion now. And the region will finally get the attention it deserves.''

Noriega's confirmation came after a long delay because Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had been blocking the vote for months in an effort to force a Senate vote on his proposal for easing restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba.

''We had all been waiting for so long that we stopped watching,'' said Ana Navarro, a longtime Miami lobbyist and friend of Noriega, the current U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Until Tuesday, the Senate had refused to confirm a series of nominees for the State Department job, in charge of relations with Washington's hemispheric neighbors, since 1999 because of a string of political disputes. The post had been held since then on an interim or appointed basis by four officials.

The unanimous approval on a voice vote, as Congress headed toward its summer recess this week, drew praise from Latin American officials as well as U.S. supporters.