MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ex Army officer and narcotics expert, nominated US ambassador to Uruguay

Heide Fulton, whose appointment must be approved by the US Senate, is a career member of the Foreign Service, with extensive experience, and in the US Army

Former military officer and current deputy assistant secretary of the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), Heide Fulton has been nominated by president Joe Biden as the new ambassador to 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.

Although Uruguay will be Ms Fulton's first destination as ambassador, she is a career civil servant with a important trajectory in the US Foreign Service, having worked fundamentally with issues related to the fight against drug trafficking and public diplomacy.

Currently Ms Fulton is responsible for the programs of the Department of State that “combat illicit drugs and organized crime” in the Americas, according to the profile published on the page of the Department of State.

In this role, she is responsible for the Department of State’s programs to combat illicit drugs and organized crime, as well as support for law enforcement and the rule of law in the Western Hemisphere and for the State Department’s global aviation program.

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’affairs of the US Embassy in Honduras, as well as having worked in US representations in Afghanistan, Ecuador, Cambodia and the Philippines.

Before joining the foreign service, Ms Fulton worked in the US Army, where she served as a quartermaster in Europe and later as a civil affairs officer in Iraq. She also has experience in the Press office of the Department of State and has worked for Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

After 28 years service in 2020 she retired from United States Army Reserve. Ms Fulton was born in New York, has a BA from Boston College and an MA in International Relations from Troy State University.

Since the departure of ambassador Kenneth George, in January 2021, the embassy in Montevideo was in charge of a business manager. Bahamas were in that situation. During recent meetings with State Department officials, Uruguayan diplomats communicated Washington to appoint an ambassador in Montevideo.