Mari Carmen Aponte
Mari Carmen Aponte is a Washington DC-based Puerto Rico-born attorney who served as the United States ambassador to El Salvador from August 2010 until December 2011.[1] She was given a recess appointment to the post in August 2010 that expired at the end of 2011.[2]
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[edit] Personal life
Born in Puerto Rico, Mrs. Aponte went to school on the United States mainland but never severed her roots to Puerto Rico. She obtained a B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College. Her M.A. in Theatre is from Villanova University and she obtained her Juris Doctor at Temple University, one of a few female law students enrolled under an affirmative action program, after serving a stint as a public school teacher.[3] However, probably her best education was obtained in 1979 as a White House Fellow under President Jimmy Carter, serving as a Special Assistant to former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
A close friend of former Resident Commissioner and Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, she actually was his landlord and housemate during his four years of Congressional service in Washington, DC. She is also a close friend of Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who swore her in as only the eleventh Puerto Rican United States Ambassador since 1898.[4]
In the early 1990s, Aponte dated an insurance salesman named Roberto Tamayo. Tamayo was accused by a Cuban intelligence defector of spying for the Cuban government. Tamayo was alternately said by a US intelligence source to be an FBI informant. Aponte's relationship with Tamayo, which ended in 1994, has been brought up by Republican Senator Jim DeMint as a reason not to confirm her as Ambassador to El Salvador in 2011.[5]
[edit] Ambassador nomination under President Clinton
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 However, Aponte asked that her nomination be withdrawn from consideration by the Senate after her involvement with the Cuban Government was made public. [6] After Aponte's nomination was withdrawn, Clinton designated Aponte a special assistant in the Office of Presidential Personnel.[7]
[edit] Work for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration
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.
[edit] Ambassador nomination under President Obama and recess appointment
Aponte was serving as a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission when President Obama nominated her in December 2009 to serve as Ambassador to El Salvador.[8] 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.[9] The recess appointment lasted through the end of 2011, meaning that for Aponte to remain in office until the end of Obama's term in office in January 2013, the Senate would need to confirm Aponte before the end of 2011.[10]
In 2010, 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 Justice (and fellow Puerto Rican) Sotomayor, who met with her Salvadorean counterparts.[11]
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. On December 12, 2011, the Senate held a cloture vote on Aponte's nomination. The cloture vote required 60 votes in order to cut off debate and allow the Senate to proceed to an up-or-down vote on Aponte's nomination. However, the cloture vote failed in a mostly party-line, 49–37, with 49 senators voting for cloture and 37 senators (including Reid for strategic reasons) opposing it.[12]
Because Aponte did not win Senate confirmation, her tenure in El Salvador ended at the end of December 2011, and she returned to the United States. However, her nomination to the post remains pending before the Senate as of January 2012.
[edit] Private sector activities
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 as ambassador to El Salvador.
In addition to practicing law for decades, 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.
[edit] References
- ^ http://sansalvador.usembassy.gov/news/2009/12/09.html
- ^ . http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/us-ambassador-leaves-el-salvador-after-senate-fails-to-ratify-her/2011/12/30/gIQAlgLHRP_story.html.[dead link]
- ^ http://www.latinastyle.com/currentissue/v12-2/lawyers.html
- ^ http://www.elnuevodia.com/blog-pioneras-785837.html
- ^ Collins, Gail (9 December 2011). "The Ghosts of Boyfriends Past". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/opinion/collins-the-ghost-of-boyfriends-past.html. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ "Obama Pick for Salvador Post Withdrew Prior Nomination Over Cuba Concerns". Fox News. 17 December 2009. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/17/obama-pick-salvador-post-withdrew-clinton-cuba-questions/.
- ^ http://www.allgov.com/Official/Aponte_Mari_Carmen
- ^ http://sansalvador.usembassy.gov/news/2009/12/09.html
- ^ http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/19/president-obama-announces-recess-appointments-key-administration-posts
- ^ http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/20/1784514/obama-names-aponte-el-salvador.html
- ^ http://sansalvador.usembassy.gov/news/2011/08/15.html
- ^ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00227
[edit] Sources
http://people.forbes.com/profile/maricarmen-aponte/60727 http://www.elnuevodia.com/blog-pioneras-785837.html
