The Hispanic National Bar Association Urges U.S. Senate Confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to Republic of El Salvador

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) urges the U.S. Senate to confirm Mari Carmen Aponte as United States Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador. Ms. Aponte received President Barack Obama's recess appointment to this post in 2010, following an almost nine-month delay in the Senate to confirm her nomination. A highly qualified and distinguished leader, Ms. Aponte was one of the first Latinas to earn the prestigious White House Fellowship and has worked in the government, private, and non-profit sectors in the course of her long and illustrious professional career. She is a nationally recognized leader, and her extensive professional experience demonstrates her legal acumen and skills as a spokesperson and diplomat. 

Ms. Aponte has been an active member of the HNBA for the past thirty years and was the first Latina to serve as National President (1983-1984). She has also served the HNBA in various capacities, most recently as a member of the HNBA Commission on the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession. In 2009, the HNBA recognized Ms. Aponte during its Annual Convention with the Lifetime Achievement Award, noting her contributions to the legal profession and Latino community.

Benny Agosto, Jr., HNBA National President, stated, "The HNBA is extremely proud to have benefitted from Ms. Aponte's talent and leadership skills as an organization, and we look forward to all that she will achieve as she continues to serve our country as Ambassador to El Salvador. We encourage the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to promptly confirm Ms. Aponte, and thank the Senate for working to confirm other such qualified and diverse nominees."

The HNBA is an incorporated, not-for-profit, non-partisan, national membership organization that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, and law students of Hispanic descent in the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico.  For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.