Mari Carmen Aponte

Mari Aponte
United States Ambassador to Panama
In office November 21, 2022 –January 20, 2025

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

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

• List of first women lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania

References

1. "Aponte, Mari Carmen".
2. "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. 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.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Robert Blau Acting	United States Ambassador to El Salvador 2010–2011	Succeeded by Sean Murphy Acting
Preceded by Sean Murphy Acting	United States Ambassador to El Salvador 2012–2016	Succeeded by Michael Barkin Acting
Preceded by Roberta Jacobson	Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Acting 2016–2017	Succeeded by Francisco Palmieri
Preceded by Stewart Tuttle Chargé d’Affaires ad interim	United States Ambassador to Panama 2022–present	Incumbent