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Mari Carmen Aponte

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Mari Aponte
United States Ambassador to Panama
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 21, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byStewart Tuttle
(Chargé d’Affaires ad interim)
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
In office
May 5, 2016 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byRoberta S. Jacobson
Succeeded byFrancisco Palmieri
United States Ambassador to El Salvador
In office
August 21, 2012 – February 7, 2016
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded bySean Murphy (Acting)
Succeeded byJean Elizabeth Manes
In office
September 27, 2010 – January 2, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byRobert Blau (Acting)
Succeeded bySean Murphy (Acting)
Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration
In office
2001–2004
Preceded byXavier Romeu
Succeeded byEduardo Bhatia
Personal details
Born1946 (age 77–78)
Santurce, Puerto Rico
Political partyDemocratic[citation needed]
EducationRosemont College (BA)
Villanova University (MA)
Temple University Beasley School of Law (JD)

Mari Carmen Aponte (born 1946) is an American attorney and diplomat who has served as the United States Ambassador to Panama in the Biden administration since November 2022. She previously served as acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs on May 5, 2016.[1] She also served as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador from August 2010 until December 2011 and again from June 14, 2012, until December 2015.[2][3] Before that she was serving as a member of the board of directors of Oriental Group, a major financial and banking services enterprise in Puerto Rico. President Obama also nominated her as the United States' permanent representative to the Organization of American States,[4] but the Senate had not acted upon that nomination upon adjournment in December 2014.

Early life and education

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Aponte was born in Puerto Rico in 1946. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Rosemont College, a Master of Arts in theater from Villanova University, and a Juris Doctor from the Temple University Beasley School of Law, one of a few female law students enrolled under an affirmative action program, after serving a stint as a public school teacher.[5]

Career

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In 1979, she was appointed a White House Fellow by President Jimmy Carter, serving as a special assistant to former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu.

Clinton administration

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In 1998, President Bill Clinton nominated Aponte to serve as the United States' ambassador to the Dominican Republic. However, Aponte asked that her nomination be withdrawn from consideration by the Senate after her involvement with Roberto Tamayo was made public.[6] After Aponte's nomination was withdrawn, Clinton designated Aponte a special assistant in the Office of Presidential Personnel.[7]

Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration

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In 2001, Puerto Rico Governor Sila Calderón appointed Aponte to be executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, a post she held until 2004.

Obama administration

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Aponte was serving as a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission when President Obama nominated her in December 2009 to serve as the United States Ambassador to El Salvador.[2] After the Senate failed to act upon her nomination over a period of eight months, Obama gave Aponte a recess appointment to the post in August 2010 and she stayed until 2011.[8]

In 2011, Aponte helped organize and hosted President Obama's state visit to El Salvador as part of a Latin American tour that also included Brazil and Chile.

In August 2011, she personally hosted a visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was meeting with Salvadoran counterparts.[9]

In December 2011, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on Aponte's nomination, in an effort to break Senate Republicans' filibuster of her nomination. However, the cloture vote failed by a vote of 49–37.[10]

Aponte returned to the United States at the end of December 2011, when her recess appointment expired.

On June 14, 2012, the Senate confirmed Aponte to be the ambassador by voice vote.[11] She presented her credentials on August 21, 2012, and served until February 7, 2016.[12]

Aponte was also nominated by President Obama as a permanent representative to the OAS, but the Senate adjourned in December 2014 before taking up her nomination.

Biden administration

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On October 8, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Aponte to be the next U.S ambassador to Panama.[13] The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not act on it for the rest of the year, and it was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022.[14]

President Biden resent Aponte's nomination the next day. Hearings on her nomination were held before the Foreign Relations Committee on May 18, 2022. Her nomination was favorably reported on June 9, 2022. She was confirmed by the Senate on September 29, 2022.[15] She presented her credentials to President Nito Cortizo on November 21, 2022.[16]

Private sector

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Aponte has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Oriental Group, a major financial and banking services enterprise in Puerto Rico, from 1998 to 2001 and from 2005 until appointed ambassador to El Salvador.

In addition to decades of law practice, she was a vice-chair of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and a consultant to the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN).

She served as a director at the National Council of La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the University of the District of Columbia and Rosemont College. She presided over the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia and the Hispanic National Bar Association.

Personal life

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In the early 1990s, Aponte dated insurance salesman Roberto Tamayo. Tamayo was accused by a Cuban intelligence defector of spying for the Cuban government. Tamayo was alternately accused of being an FBI informant by a U.S. intelligence source. Aponte's relationship with Tamayo, which ended in 1994, was brought up by Republican Senator Jim DeMint as a reason to stop her confirmation as ambassador to El Salvador in 2011, however, she was confirmed as no "nefarious connection was found".[17]

Aponte speaks Spanish and French.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Aponte, Mari Carmen".
  2. ^ a b "President Obama nominates Mari Carmen Aponte as new Ambassador to El Salvador". Embassy of the United States San Salvador, El Salvador. December 9, 2009. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  3. ^ "US ambassador leaves El Salvador after Senate fails to ratify her". Washington Post. December 30, 2011.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Obama names Aponte to top US post at Organization of American States - Caribbean Business". Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  5. ^ [1] Archived March 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Obama Pick for Salvador Post Withdrew Prior Nomination Over Cuba Concerns". Fox News. December 17, 2009.
  7. ^ "Aponte, Mari Carmen". AllGov. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  8. ^ "President Obama Announces Recess Appointments to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. August 19, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2013 – via National Archives.
  9. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor Visits El Salvador". Embassy of the United States San Salvador, El Salvador. August 15, 2011. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  10. ^ "On the Cloture Motion (Cloture on the Nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador)". US Senate. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  11. ^ "PN267 — Mari Carmen Aponte — Department of State 112th Congress (2011-2012)". US Congress. June 14, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  12. ^ "Mari Del Carmen Aponte (1946–)". Department of State.
  13. ^ "President Biden Announces Key Nominations". The White House. October 8, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  14. ^ "PN1251 — Mari Carmen Aponte — Department of State 117th Congress (2021-2022)". US Congress. January 3, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  15. ^ "PN1565 — Mari Carmen Aponte — Department of State 117th Congress (2021-2022)". US Congress. January 4, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  16. ^ Aponte, Mari Carmen [@USAmbassadorPAN] (November 21, 2022). "Fue un verdadero honor presentarle mis cartas credenciales al presidente @NitoCortizo" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved November 24, 2022 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Collins, Gail (December 9, 2011). "The Ghosts of Boyfriends Past". The New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mari Carmen Aponte.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to El Salvador
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Ambassador to El Salvador
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Acting
2016–2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Stewart Tuttle
Chargé d’Affaires ad interim
 United States Ambassador to Panama
2022–present 		Incumbent
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