U.S. Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte is returning home from El Salvador after Senate Republicans refused to confirm her appointment.

 

President Barack Obama nominated Puerto Rican-born Aponte on December 9, 2009, and she was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee April 27, 2010.  However, Republicans put a hold on her nomination, so Obama finally gave her a recess appointment on August 19, 2010, and she took charge of the U.S. embassy in El Salvador shortly thereafter. She had until the end of December 2011 to receive confirmation or else be forced to step down from her post.

 

Republicans resurrected a two-decade old skeleton of Aponte’s, who had a relationship from 1982 to 1994 with an alleged Cuban intelligence officer, Roberto Tamayo. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reviewed the matter and eventually cleared the diplomat of any wrongdoing. The FBI also gave Aponte a high-level security clearance.

 

Aponte upset some in El Salvador by writing an editorial that promoted the acceptance of homosexuals.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

US Ambassador Leaves El Salvador after Senate Vote (Associated Press)

Hispanic Leaders Knock Rubio on Aponte Vote (by Erika Bolstad, McClatchy Newspapers)

The Ghosts of Boyfriends Past (by Gail Collins, New York Times)