The challenges of regional integration in Central America: exploring the SICA
Conveners: Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo (Ambassador of the Dominican Republic) and Diego Sánchez-Ancochea
Federico Alberto Cuello has served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Dominican Republic to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 2011.
Until his first appointment as Ambassador to the UN and the WTO in Geneva (1999-2002), he was Viceminister for International Cooperation and Economic Reforms, serving as well as the DR’s lead negotiator on trade in services, competition policy and electronic commerce for the free-trade agreements with CARICOM and Central America, the now defunct Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the WTO. He then served as the DR’s Ambassador to Belgium, the EU, Czekia and Poland (2005-9). He was one of the four Lead Negotiators of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA. He also Chaired the ACP Group (2006), the CARIFORUM Group (2007) and the Group of Río (2008). Before coming to London he was the DR’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York (2009-2011), where he got his country elected into the ECOSOC and the Executive Board of UN-WOMEN. He also registered in 2009 the DR’s candidacy to the 2018 elections for a seat at the UN Security Council, recently endorsed by the consensus of GRULAC. As a result, the DR will be joining the UNSC for the first time in history during 2019-20.
In academia, he was the Director of the School of Economics at his alma mater, the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC, 1993-94), teaching Development Economics. He is since 2003 a Research Professor of Development Economics and Economic Policy at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUCMM), obtaining in 2005 a special leave without pay for the duration of his tenure in the Dominican foreign service.
Elizabeth Hayek (Ambassador of El Salvador)
Ms Hayek has served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of El Salvador since June 2016. She has over twenty years of operational and managerial experience addressing key issues related to Democratic Governance polices and development programmes. She served eleven years at the UNDP and is familiar with UN’s programming methodologies as well as with other multilateral and bilateral development agencies procedures.
Ms Hayek’s academic background is in Economics and Political Science with additional professional training in Human Rights and Conflict Analysis. She holds an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science,UK as well as an MSc in Business Economics from Eni Corporate University, Milan, Italy. Among her academic interests are Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors and Transitional Justice.
Guisell Morales-Echaverry (Ambassador of Nicaragua)
Guisell Morales-Echaverry is the Ambassador of Nicaragua in the United Kingdom (since 2015) and Ireland (since 2016). She arrived to the UK in 2012 as Chargée d’Affaires. Previously, she had developed a successful career as a lawyer in the public and private sector; she was Country Director for CID Gallup Latin America, founder and senior partner at Vivas Lugo and Associates and Chief of Staff to the Minister of Interior and other posts in the same Ministry.
Perla Perdomo (Ambassador of Belize)
Her Excellency, Ms Perla Perdomo, has a distinguished career as a diplomat, having served in London as Belize High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since July 2012, and Ambassador of Belize to Ireland since June 2016. She previously served a decade at the Embassy of Belize in Mexico City. Ms Perdomo also has business experience, having been General Manager of Travellers Liquors Limited, the largest liquor company in Belize, for 6 years and was Chairman of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) from 2008-2012. Ms Perdomo was a scholar at Oxford University in 2001-2002.
Ivan Romero-Martinez (Ambassador of Honduras)
Prior to his appointment in London, Mr. Romero-Martinez, was posted as Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York where he served as Vice President of the General Assembly. He is a career diplomat since 1971, having served as his country’s Ambassador to many countries, including Spain, Egypt, Morocco, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Ireland. He also represented his country at the ambassadorial level at the United Nations in Switzerland and at the European Union in Brussels. He currently holds the position of Dean of the Latin American Ambassadors in London.
Mr. Romero-Martinez received a degree in law and social sciences from the National University of Honduras. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in international relations from the Catholic University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.