Mari Carmen Aponte

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 However, Aponte asked that her nomination be withdrawn from consideration by the Senate after her involvement with Roberto Tamayo was made public.[6] After Aponte's nomination was withdrawn, Clinton designated Aponte a special assistant in the Office of Presidential Personnel.[7]

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.

Aponte was serving as a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission when President Obama nominated her in December 2009 to serve as ambassador to El Salvador.[2] 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.[8] 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.[9]

In 2011, 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 U.S. Supreme Court Justice (and fellow Puerto Rican) Sonia Sotomayor, who met with her Salvadorean counterparts.[10]

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 vote, with 49 senators voting for cloture and 37 senators (including Reid for parliamentary reasons) opposing it.[11]

Because Aponte did not win Senate confirmation before the end of 2011, her tenure in El Salvador ended at the end of December 2011, and she returned to the United States.

On June 14, 2012, the Senate held another cloture vote on her nomination, which passed, 62–37, effectively assuring her the ambassadorship.[12] Immediately after the passage of the cloture vote, the Senate held a voice vote on Aponte's nomination, and she was confirmed.[13]

Ambassador Aponte was also appointed by President Obama as permanent representative to the OAS, but the Senate adjourned in December, 2014 before taking up her nomination.

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.