Republicans derail US ambassador to El Salvador

Two week delay in posting, but here's my take on Republican efforts to derail Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination as US Ambassador to El Salvador. It's up at Al Jazeera now.

The United States Senate recently blocked President Barack Obama's nominee for ambassador to El Salvador. Mari Carmen Aponte had been serving as ambassador to El Salvador since September 2010 and, by most measures, seems to have done a fine job representing US interests in the country.

However, given that Aponte was a 2010 recess appointment which allowed Obama to sidestep Senate concerns, the Senate would have needed to confirm her nomination in order for her to continue to serve as ambassador beyond the end of this year. Instead, 49 Senators, including one Democrat, voted to block Aponte's nomination.

Several opinion pieces have taken to explaining that Aponte's nomination was derailed by an op-ed published in El Salvador where she defended the rights of gays and lesbians. However, I would argue that her nomination would have failed even if she had not written the op-ed.