Ambassador Marisol Argueta de Barillas. Photo courtesy of the El Salvadoran Embassy.

Enrique Melendez, Honorary Consul for El Salvador, has announced that Ambassador Marisol Argueta de Barillas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the country of El Salvador will be coming to Prescott in November, 2008.

"I think it's a privilege and honor that the Secretary of State - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Argueta de Barillas, will be in our City of Prescott . She has deep respect for what the community has done and is looking forward to meeting the residents and government leaders in the northern part of our state," Melendez said. 

According to Melendez, Ambassador Argueta de Barillas will be in Arizona November 13, 14 and 15th. Although details of her itinerary have not been finalized, it is expected that she will meet with Governor Napolitano and also members of the Fountain Hills City Council. Fountain Hills has developed a vibrant sister city relationship with the City of Ataco in El Salvador, and is currently preparing to send three or four operating room teams, pre and post-op staff, clinic staff, translators and support staff to El Salvador in partnership with Medical Hands for Healing.

At some point during her brief trip, she also plans to come to Prescott, which finalized its Sister City relationship with Suchitoto, El Salvador, in May of this year.

Next month, from July 12-18th, a delegation from Prescott consisting of Mayor Pro Tem Mary Ann Suttles, Councilwoman Lora Lopas, City Manager Steve Norwood and Police Chief Randy Oaks will attend the celebration of Suchitoto's 150th birthday.

The duties of the Minister of Foreign Affairs are quite similar to that of the United States' Secretary of State. Ambassador Argueta de Barillas took office as the Minister of Foreign Affairs on January 16, 2008, after the resignation of Foreign Minister Francisco Laínez. Previously, she had been the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for four years.

According to the official El Salvadoran website, "Ambassador Argueta de Barillas is a Salvadoran lawyer and a career diplomat with post- graduate studies in Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, England. She has also studied International Humanitarian Law at NYU and has specialized studies in international affairs, human rights, negotiations, conflict resolution, peacekeeping and development; having taken different courses at the International Peace Academy and at the University of Harvard, Cambridge, MA, among others."

Ambassador Argueta de Barillas has served as Minister Counselor at the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington, D.C. from 1997-1999 and as an Alternate Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations in New York from 1990-1997.

She speaks fluent Spanish and English, and 'intermediate' French.

Married to Carlos R. Barillas, Ambassador Argueta de Barillas and her husband have three daughters: Alexia, Florence and Gabriela.

For further information about Ambassador Argueta de Barillas, read her biography on the Central America Leadership Initiative .

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed