Dominican lawyer Julissa Reynoso was sworn in in the presence of Vice President Kamala Harris, as United States Ambassador to Spain and Andorra, after his appointment was initially blocked by Cuban Republican senator Marco Rubio, who described him as a “defender and supporter of the Castro regime,” reports Europa Press.
Rubio’s argument for vetoing Reynoso’s appointment was that heA lawyer was involved in assisting the “exchange of imprisoned members of the Cuban regime’s intelligence services” while serving time in a US prison, “referring to spies Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino, released and sent to Cuba during the so-called thaw between Havana and Washington under the presidency of Barack Obama.
Therefore, senator Rubio reckons that Reynoso “will not pressure Spain” to “increase pressure on the authoritarian regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela”.
However, During his candidacy process, Reynoso described Spain’s foreign policy towards Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as “mediocre”. and insisted that Madrid “could have done more”.
Reynoso later asserted that, as ambassador to Madrid, “the goal” was for Spain to be “much more vocal” with respect to these countries, “given its significant influence and importance, especially in Cuba.”
From immigrant to US ambassador
Julissa Reynoso was born in the Dominican Republic in 1975 and emigrated to the United States in 1982 with her family, who settled in the Bronx. He graduated from high school in the Bronx as a top student and entered Harvard University. He also studied at the University of Cambridge in England.
In 2006, he was Deputy Director of the Accountability Office for the New York City Department of Education. He has published numerous publications in English and Spanish on a wide range of topics, including regulatory reform, community organizing, housing reform, immigration policy, and Latin American politics, for both the press and academic journals.
In 2008, he was actively involved in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency. After this defeat in the primaries, he returned to practice law in the Simpson Thatcher & Bartlet cabinet in New York.
In 2009, Clinton, then Secretary of State, joined the team as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs. with a particular focus on security policy for Central America and the Caribbean
In 2012, the Barack Obama Administration appointed Reynoso as Ambassador to Uruguay, where he became the youngest ambassador to the United States.
Until her candidacy as ambassador to Spain and Andorra, she was the first lady’s chief of staff, Jill Biden, and co-chair of the White House Gender Policy Council, where she deals with immigration issues. He replaces Duke Buchan, who had been appointed ambassador in Madrid by Donald Trump.
