The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has placed the nomination of Puerto Rican Mark Abreu, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official, as ambassador to El Salvador on the calendar for its voting session next Wednesday. Typically, the first time a nomination appears on the voting list, the committee postpones its consideration to a second executive session.
Republicans are seeking to clear a large number of appointments in December, after losing the majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Abreu had his confirmation hearing in September, after which Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who chaired it, said he expected the designation to reach the full chamber, in a bloc with other nominations, before Congress’s session closes in December.
"If you are confirmed as ambassador to El Salvador, you will be responsible for strengthening an important regional alliance, which includes our cooperation on security, migration, trade and investment," Hagerty said at the time. Although they did not take a position on the nomination, Democratic Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who now aspires to be majority leader in the next session, called attention to complaints of human rights violations against Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
In his testimony at the confirmation hearing, Abreu praised the "radical change" Bukele has brought to that country’s security. "A decade ago, it was the murder capital of the world. Today, El Salvador is one of the safest countries in the Western Hemisphere, a radical change driven by President Bukele, whom Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio has called the strongest leader in our region in the area of security," Abreu said at the time.
Born in Puerto Rico, Abreu was a member of the U.S. Air Force and a special agent of the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations. In 2024, he was the CIA’s legislative liaison and a congressional fellow in the office of then-Senator Rubio. Puerto Rican Mari Carmen Aponte was U.S. ambassador to El Salvador during Barack Obama’s administration.
Corrected November 14: an earlier version said “on the calendar for its voting session on Wednesday, November 18” and “a special agent of the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General”; it now says “on the calendar for its voting session next Wednesday” and “a special agent of the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations.”