Across the Americas, crises roil without U.S. ambassadors on the ground

A crisis of democracy is gripping Guatemala as its ruling party refuses to cede power after an election loss. Haiti continues to spiral into anarchy as Port-au-Prince waits for international forces to come to its aid. And the Colombian government’s embrace of coca farming has led to tensions with Washington and an economic crisis at home that could shake one of the most important relationships in the region.

Yet none of these countries have U.S. ambassadors on the ground confirmed by the Senate, despite the Biden administration sending nominees to lawmakers over six months ago.

They are not alone. The U.S. ambassador to Peru left in September after the country went through unprecedented political upheaval earlier this year following the ouster of its president. The position has been vacant ever since. And President Joe Biden’s nominee for an ambassador to The Bahamas has been waiting for a vote for nearly two years.

The diplomatic absences have left an impression of U.S. neglect in the region, where political leaders already feel it is a struggle to capture Washington’s attention.

“It is a big handicap for U.S. diplomacy,” said Jorge Heine, a former Chilean ambassador who currently serves as a research professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. “There was no U.S. ambassador in Chile for three and a half years. There was no U.S. ambassador in Brazil when the presidential elections were held last year. This is no way to run a business.”

Hoping to address those concerns, Biden appointed former Sen. Chris Dodd in November as his special presidential adviser for the Americas. Dodd has been dispatched to try and help on a number of issues, including an ongoing border conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic over the construction of a canal on Haitian soil.

Eric Farnsworth, a former State Department official, said that while Dodd is “a consummate professional” who can speak to and on behalf of the president, it is the role of ambassadors to be on the ground and immersed in local issues on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s really critical that the U.S. has qualified ambassadors in place during this transitional regional moment,” said Farnsworth, head of the Council of the Americas business association in Washington. “Local communities feel disrespected when vacancies become pronounced, and confirmed ambassadors have better access and greater political weight in-country. They are generally better able to promote core national interests on behalf of the American people.”

Critics say that both the administration and Congress are to blame. In some cases, the White House has not named or has been slow to name an ambassador. In others, like in the case of Colombia, the nominee’s confirmation is being held up by a single lawmaker who has issues with the nomination.

Charge d’affaires operate as the senior-most diplomats at their respective embassies until ambassadors are confirmed. But State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told McClatchy that the development and execution of U.S. national security policy “depends on having confirmed ambassadors in place in our embassies overseas.”

“There is not another major power in the world that would leave so many of its embassies to be run for months without an ambassador,” Miller said.

“Our interim career staff are doing a fantastic job in all of these places, but the governments they are interacting with know they are there temporarily,” Miller added. “We encourage the Senate to quickly confirm the ambassadors to countries currently pending before them.”

Biden or the Senate?

The Senate has dragged its feet on ambassador nominations around the world, with Republican lawmakers empowered to put holds on votes on the Senate floor. Only after Hamas attacked Israel last month, prompting a war in Gaza and the specter of a wider regional conflict across the Middle East, did the Senate take up votes to confirm Biden’s nominees for envoys to Israel and Egypt. The administration’s nominee for ambassador to Lebanon is still waiting for a vote.

“The executive and legislative branch both play a critical role in posting ambassadors overseas, but the process has caused delays that are detrimental in advancing U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” said Eddy Acevedo, chief of staff at the Wilson Center in Washington and former senior foreign policy adviser to former Florida Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

“In Latin America alone, important countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Peru, Barbados, and The Bahamas are waiting for new confirmed ambassadors to arrive,” he added. “The process is what it is but both branches of government as well as both political parties need to work together to ensure the U.S. fills ambassador posts with qualified individuals. The reality is that our partners overseas don’t want to hear about the process complaints, instead they wonder if the U.S. prioritizes their country or region.”

READ MORE: Haiti poll finds majority favor international force amid worsening humanitarian crisis

U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, said Biden bears at least some of the blame for the vacancies, citing the president’s “failure to nominate qualified individuals.” He also criticized a “lack of a clear and consistent foreign policy,” saying, for example, that the president has failed to provide the Dominican Republic “with the relief necessary to address Haiti’s gang-ridden political and humanitarian crisis.”

“These weaknesses in the Biden Administration hinder our ability to address growing regional challenges, bolster alliances, and safeguard national security,” he said.

Dominican President Luis Abinader, whose country has been nearly three years without a U.S. ambassador, told Dominican journalists last week that the absence is due to internal conflicts between the Democrats and Republicans. And while he has open communication with Dodd, Abinader said he has personally raised the vacancy issue with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“It’s not just the Dominican Republic. There are more than 40 countries that have not been able to have ambassadors confirmed,” Abinader, who had a bilateral with President Biden on Thursday, said. “But we are going to continue insisting.”