Mari Carmen Aponte is a distinguished diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 2010–2016 and to the Republic of Panama from 2022–2024. She also served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2016–2017). Aponte sat down with the Harvard Political Review to share lessons and insights from her experience as an ambassador.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Harvard Political Review: Can you walk us through your first 90-day playbook when you arrive at a new post as an ambassador?
Mari Carmen Aponte: Both times that I was designated ambassador, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to accomplish. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to form a cohesive team. Even if not in line with what I originally had in mind, I thought it was extremely important that I get opinions from people who had been in the country longer than I had, the Foreign Service officers. I arrived pretty quickly at the conclusion that the Foreign Service officers are one of the greatest gifts to the United States. They will usually tell you what they think, but once you make a decision, even if it was not their recommendation, they will close ranks and they will support the ambassador. So, go talk to the foreign service officers already on the ground. Listen to them.
HPR: Is there a memorable conversation you have had with a citizen from one of the countries that you served as ambassador to?
Aponte: I remember a conversation I had in a village that I went to, not long after I arrived in El Salvador. There were women in a small village whose children, for the most part, had emigrated to the U.S. No ambassador had been to that village before. I approached them with a lot of compassion, because they felt the emptiness of their children having emigrated. I remember these women, they were my age, but their faces were rugged because of the life they led. However, I felt a bond, such a bond with them, because they were talking about their children, and they talked about family. What was important to them was the same things that were important to me. One of the villagers just held me and embraced me. We embraced each other. I will never forget her. She told me, as she embraced me, that it was like hugging her child, because I was American.
Tears were streaming down our faces, and I remember she told me that she had her best day on that day. I talked to women who had suffered abandonment, whose children had left, who had been through war. I understood the ravages of war, the ravages of poverty, the ravages of lack. All I could do was give her some attention and some caring. Not only from me, but on behalf of the U.S. Nothing else mattered; what mattered was that we connected as human beings.
HPR: What’s an underreported challenge in U.S.-Latin America relations that deserves more public attention right now?
Aponte: I found that especially in Latin America, there is a lot of known anger and resentment for the U.S., yet simultaneously, a lot of admiration and sympathy. The work being done people-to-people is welcomed, sometimes even more so than government-to-government. All the aid and development that the United States has invested in so far is really appreciated.
The best ambassadors are Peace Corps volunteers. They work in villages, living with people in the villages as another citizen living in that country. The bonds that were formed by the local people were so powerful. It was because that’s where you encountered each other as human beings. Not somebody from a wealthier country or a more powerful country. What matters is, do I care about you? Are you listening? Are we listening to each other? Do we matter to each other? Those kinds of encounters I found to be the most powerful. That’s why I loved the Peace Corps volunteers; they worked both in Panama and El Salvador, and they were the greatest assets we had in the embassy. The Peace Corps doesn’t usually get on the headlines, but they are an under-reported asset of the U.S. foreign relations world.
HPR: How do you mentor early-career officers to build resilience and ethical judgment under pressure? Did you make any mistakes in mentoring? Did you learn from any of them?
Aponte: Mentoring has always been very important to me. As a young woman, after I finished my White House Fellowship year during the Carter administration back in 1980, I somehow felt this urge to be a diplomat. I went and I made calls to the Department of State, trying to find one Puerto Rican. One Puerto Rican whom I could talk to, whose door I could knock on. There was only one. He told me, “Go back and practice law.” He also told me not to look for mentors who are only Puerto Ricans; all you have to do is find other people that you can talk to.
It brought me back to the career that I always wanted: being an ambassador. So mentoring opened the doors for me, and it changed my life.
HPR: One last question, what’s your favorite Puerto Rican food?
Aponte: Rice and beans, I love rice and beans. Along with rice and beans we have codfish, pigeon peas, and ripe plantains. We bake them, boil them, and put sugar on them. It doesn’t matter how I’ll eat it. As long as there’s rice and beans. I enjoy them. On the other hand, broccoli, not so much.
