Liliana Ayalde is a Career Minister serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, covering Cuba, Central America, and the Caribbean. She previously served as the USAID Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. She served as United States Ambassador to Paraguay from 2008 to 2011. Ms. Ayalde started her foreign service career in 1982 in Bangladesh and has accumulated more than 28 years of experience in diplomacy and development, most of this in the Western Hemisphere.
Ms. Ayalde has served in Guatemala and Nicaragua overseeing growing development assistance programs. In 1993, she was named Deputy Director for the Office of Central American Affairs in USAID’s Latin America and Caribbean Bureau becoming Director in 1995 during the peace process in Central America. She returned to Nicaragua as Deputy Director for USAID and in 1997 was assigned as Mission Director for USAID/Bolivia. Between 2005 and 2008 she served as Mission Director for USAID/Colombia during which she had responsibility for the development assistance portfolio under Plan Colombia.
Ms. Ayalde holds a bachelor of arts degree from American University in international studies and a master's degree in international public health from Tulane University. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has a working knowledge of French.
