| Patricia A. Butenis | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office August 19, 2009 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| United States Ambassador to the Maldives | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office August 19, 2009 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| United States Ambassador to Bangladesh | |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | United States |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | • University of Pennsylvania (Bachelor of Arts) • Columbia University (Master of Arts} |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Patricia A. Butenis is a diplomat. Since 2009, she is the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the United States Ambassador to the Maldives.[1]
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She earned a Bachelor of Arts degreee in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Columbia University.
Butenis joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980 and has served consular tours in Karachi, Pakistan; San Salvador, El Salvador; New Delhi, India; and Bogotá, Colombia.
Prior to her 2009 appointment in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Butenis served as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad (Chargé d'affaires)[2] and as the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh.
Butenis sparked controversy in Sri Lanka in late 2009 when WikiLeaks — an international new-media, non-profit organization that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources and news leaks — disclosed diplomatic cables sent by her on verifying the accountability of war crimes that allegedly happened in the final stages of Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009).[3][4]