Biden nominates new US ambassador to Nicaragua

President Joe Biden this Friday nominated Hugo F. Rodriguez Jr., Senior Counsel in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the position of Ambassador to Nicaragua.

Rodriguez Jr. is a career diplomat with the rank of Minister-Counsellor. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, according to his autobiography he published White House.

His nomination comes a day after the New York Times revealed that the presidential couple’s son, Laureano Ortega, had sought rapprochement with the Biden administration in which the release of political prisoners in Nicaragua was raised.

The State Department sent an envoy in March, but the Ortagus family backed down, according to information in the US newspaper.

Career and professional profile

The American diplomat was born in Pennsylvania, holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and is also an economist from Hampden College-Sydney.

In addition to his native language, he speaks Spanish and Italian. If passed by the legislature, Rodriguez Jr. will succeed the current Ambassador Kevin SullivanDuring his years of service in Nicaragua, he was attacked by the Ortega regime.

The dictatorship accuses the United States of financing a coup to oust it in 2018, when mass protests by opponents demanded the removal of Nicaragua’s ruler from power, to which the state responded with brutal repression of citizens.

The United States is the largest trading partner, despite Ortega’s statements that it is currently isolated from the international community. The United States, the European Union, and Canada have all imposed sanctions for human rights violations committed by the regime.

to me Official CV de Rodriguez, was Consul General in Mexico between 2014 and 2015, and was also in that country Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs. In that nation, he led “the documentation and access to social services efforts for the approximately 500,000 children of United States citizens of Mexican parents who live in the country.” He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Asuncion Paraguay between 2016 and 2019.