Mari Carmen Aponte
| Mari Aponte | |
|---|---|
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Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Acting |
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Assumed office May 5, 2016 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Roberta Jacobson |
| United States Ambassador to El Salvador | |
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In office June 29, 2012 – January 2016 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Sean Murphy (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Michael Barkin (Acting) |
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In office September 27, 2010 – January 2, 2011 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Robert Blau (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Sean Murphy (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1946 (age 70–71) Puerto Rico, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
Rosemont College Villanova University Temple University |
Mari Carmen Aponte (born 1946) is a Washington DC-based attorney who was named acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs on May 5, 2016. Prior to this post, she served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, a position she first held from August 2010 until December 2011 and then from June 14, 2012, until December 2015. Prior to 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, but the Senate had not acted upon that nomination upon adjournment in December, 2014.
Aponte was born in Puerto Rico and attended school in the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Rosemont College, a Master of Arts in Theatre from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University, one of a few female law students enrolled under an affirmative action program, after serving a stint as a public school teacher. In 1979, she was appointed as a White House Fellow by 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.
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