The Dominican government has been urging the United States government to appoint an ambassador. The DR has not had an ambassador since Robin Bernstein left in January 2021 with the end of the Trump administration. Bernstein, a political appointee, was recognized before her departure with the order of presentation of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella by the Abinader administration.
Recently, the US State Department appointed Isiah Parnell to be Chargé d’Affaires. And now, the US Embassy announces the arrival of a deputy chief of mission, Patricia Aguilera.
The US Embassy says that Aguilera is a Senior Foreign Service career member. She arrived on 11 July 2023 to assume the Deputy Chief of Mission duties for the US Embassy Santo Domingo and advance the US-Dominican Republic bilateral relations.
Aguilera most recently served as the acting director for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) for Mission Mexico, where she was responsible for the policy and strategy for the US$3.4 billion security assistance program implemented across Mexico’s 32 states and federal government. Under her tenure, the United States and Mexico implemented the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities to establish a comprehensive, long-term approach for binational actions to pursue the safety and security of both countries.
Aguilera served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Marine Corps Central Command Forward in Bahrain; Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs covering among other portfolios Western Hemisphere Affairs; and Eagleburger Fellow to Boeing Commercial. Other tours include to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands Antilles, and as a Watch Officer in the Department’s Operations Center.
A native of Texas, Aguilera has a BA in Political Science and MA in International Relations from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. She is married and has two young boys.
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US Embassy
19 July 2023