▲ Ronald Johnson, retired colonel, was an advisor to the Southern Command.Photo of the US embassy in El Salvador
David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, December 11, 2024, p. 23
New York and Washington. President-elect Donald Trump named retired Colonel Ronald D. Johnson, a former CIA officer and former member of the Army special forces, whose missions included combat in El Salvador in the 1980s and in the Balkan region, as his next ambassador to Mexico. .
Johnson was the US ambassador to El Salvador during Trump’s first presidential term, between 2019 and 2021. The future president reported Johnson’s appointment in Mexico in a statement in which he stressed that “he will work closely with our nominated great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to promote the security and prosperity of our nation through strong policies of America First”, and added: “together we will put an end to immigrant crime, we will stop the illegal flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into our country, to make America safe again.”
In 1984, Johnson entered full-time active military service as commander of a special forces detachment based in Panama. According to his biographical file from the Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS), he was selected to attend the Army War College at the CIA. Much of his military career, according to SWCS, was in areas under Southern Command. He led combat operations in El Salvador as one of 55 authorized military advisors during the civil war in the 1980s.SWCS reports. He was also deployed to the Balkans in the 1990s, as part of a team from the CIA, the National Security Agency.
He retired from the armed forces in 1998 with the rank of colonel.
After concluding his military career, Johnson worked at the CIA, where he participated in operational and combat experiences worldwide in integrated actions as special mission units. Furthermore, he was the representative senior for the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA at the United States Southern Command.
When he was appointed ambassador to El Salvador, according to a State Department biographical file, Johnson was the science and technology liaison with the Special Operations Command for the CIA in Tampa, Florida. Previously (2013 to 2017) he was a special advisor to the Southern Command, managing collaboration with the intelligence community, the State Department, the FBI, USAID and others. He addressed regional issues, including anti-narcotics, anti-terrorism, human rights and refugees.
Johnson has a master’s degree from the National Intelligence University.
In 2020 she was awarded the Susan Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service from the Department of State, among other recognitions, including two in El Salvador.
Johnson is fluent in Spanish and lives with his Cuban-American wife in Miami, Florida.
