A new US ambassador to El Salvador

Mari Del Carmen Aponte will finally become the next ambassador to El Salvador, although without confirmation by the full Senate. President Obama used a recess appointment to get around a Republican hold on the progress of her nomination which had been pending since last December.

From Politico.com:
Washington Latin America hands say Aponte’s confirmation was held up by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) over a past relationship with a Cuban American who had alleged contact with the Cuban interests section, although nothing shown to be illicit. “No big deal, but given the utter nuttiness about Cuba among some, she wasn’t getting confirmed,” one Latin America hand explained.

Aponte’s confirmation had been strongly championed by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who praised Obama's decision to move forward with the recess appointment today.

“Republicans in the Senate have deployed a strategy of broadly obstructing presidential appointments in order to grind the people’s business to a halt, and it was tremendously disappointing that they chose to delay Ms. Aponte’s confirmation as part of this strategy," Menendez said in a statement. "Furthermore, it is shameful that they raised an issue from the distant past, which has been fully answered, to tar Ms. Aponte.

Ms. Aponte's background shows her to be a good choice as the next ambassador to El Salvador:
Mari Del Carmen Aponte is currently an attorney and independent consultant with Aponte Consulting. From 2001-2004, Ms. Aponte was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA). Prior to that, she practiced law for nearly twenty years with Washington D.C. based law firms. Ms. Aponte also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. She is also a member of the Board of the University of the District of Columbia and Rosemont College. She served as president of the Hispanic National Bar Association; the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and is a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission. In 2005, she was also elected to the Board of Directors of Oriental Financial Group (NYSE-OFG). In 1979, as a White House Fellow, Ms. Aponte was Special Assistant to the United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Moon Landrieu. Ms. Aponte has a B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College, a M.A. in Theatre from Villanova University, and a J.D. from Temple University.

Comments

Hodad said…
good choice,
Viva Cuba
and if that idiot DeMint from here in SC does not like here, then she must be well qualified, educated and astute
DeMint is one of those congressmen that demonstrates his constituencies arrogance,ignorance, greed and xenophobia, not to mention 85% OBESE here in SC
a real embarrasement for those such as myself
hope she is copacetic for El Salvador and aI am sure she will be a note though
FUSADES is a joke and I hope she does not listen to their inane so called 'suggestions' they represnt a small minority in El Salvador, and are so arrogant they do not even return calls or emails to those that ask simple questions, re: Zona Franca Rules
they are suppossed to help woith positive development in El Salvador, while only supporting the multinationals and greedy corporate entities, like walmart, mcdonalds, burger king, GM food companies with their horrid chemicals and GM seeds and food etc etc
shame the obesity rates have gone up in San Sal due to their underhanded tactics and highly processed food

the salvadoran people are NOT stupid
it is a real shame Don Miguel Salavarria died, he was way above all of them and they were a lot better organization then, but then they also supported the last ambassador, that narcotraficker, good buddies to 'we know who'
whatever his name was Burkey or something

anyway congratulations she got nominated
and especially over these redneck ignorant corrupt congress-fools trying to block her
I am sure she has the good intentions of the Salvadoran people in her mind, and heart
Jim Bodeen said…
Tim,

I'm trying to learn how to respond to the blog system. Jim
Tim said…
Looks like you have figured it out.