The President of the United States, Joe Biden, nominated Heide Fulton, former military officer and current deputy assistant secretary of the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), as the new ambassador of the country in Uruguay.
Fulton, whose appointment must be approved by the US Senate, is a career member of the Foreign Service with extensive experience in embassies and the US Army.
The White House reported in a statement that he is currently responsible for State Department programs that "combat illicit drugs and organized crime" in the American continent.
The Spanish-speaking diplomat previously headed the State Department’s Bureau of Mexican Affairs.
Fulton has also been deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Honduras, in addition to having worked in US representations in Afghanistan, Ecuador, Cambodia and the Philippines.
Before joining the foreign service, he worked in the US Army, where he served as a quartermaster in Europe and later as a civil affairs officer in Iraq.
He also has experience in the State Department Press Office and has worked for Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Fulton was born in New York and has a master’s degree in International Relations from Troy State University.
Biden also nominated diplomat David Pressman as ambassador to Hungary and local Georgia congressman Calvin Smyre as ambassador to the Bahamas on Friday.
In addition, he nominated his adviser Yohannes Abraham as US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an alliance that met this Friday in Washington.