Today, the Obama White House announced the nomination of Mari Del Carmen Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. It is not Ms. Aponte’s first brush with an ambassadorship. In 1998, President Clinton nominated her to be Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. She was forced to withdraw her name from consideration over allegations of ties to the Cuban spy agency.
From Washington Times, January 25, 1999:
Miss Aponte’s withdrawal from consideration for the Dominican Republic post came after she was questioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about her contacts with Cuban government employees or agents.
She told the panel that her experience with Mr. Tamayo and Cuban agents had sensitized her to future contacts that might involve Cuban influence.
According to the officials, Miss Aponte said she had no evidence Mr. Tamayo was a Cuban agent, but told him after the FBI inquiries that she wanted no further contacts with his “friends” in the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.
Mr. Tamayo’s regular contacts with the FBI apparently allayed Miss Aponte’s concerns about any ties to Cuban intelligence. However, Miss Aponte said she had suspicions about Mr. Tamayo’s intelligence connections after she was contacted by the FBI in late 1993. She arranged a meeting between Mr. Tamayo and FBI agents investigating the spy recruitment effort, the officials said.
From Insight on the News, February 22, 1999:
According to a confidential intelligence memo delivered to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms of North Carolina, first published by Insight several months ago, Aponte allegedly cohabited with an agent of the Cuban intelligence service, known as DGI. The man, who was not named in the memo, later was identified in followup press reports as Roberto Tamayo.
In October, eight months after Insight’s exclusive story concerning White House security lapses and Aponte’s relationship with the suspected spy (see “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” March 23, 1998) the formermember of Clinton’s transition team quietly stepped aside. It was only earlier this month that news emerged about her withdrawal.
The memo — written by an intelligence expert working overseas — questioned the lack of a thorough security check into Aponte’s background. The memo also alleged that Aponte was recruited as a “DGI asset.” According to the memo, “When the FBI eventually questioned her about her involvement with Cuban intelligence, she reportedly refused to cooperate, saying that since she was not seeking a permanent White House position she was not subject to a background check.”
Ms. Aponte was later cleared by the FBI. In spite of this, the Clinton Administration declined to nominate Aponte to any other federal appointments.
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