* Above, Carlos Pascual, via Brookings Institute.
Could it be the career diplomat and Brookings vice president named Carlos Pascual? Who happens to be a Cuban American? And an expert on "post-conflict stabilization," or those things sometimes called "failed states"?
As far as I can tell, Ana Maria Salazar was the first to go with the speculation, followed by Proceso and El Universal. The buzz came up during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Mexico last week. There is little online about Pascual, but he did co-author a paper for Foreign Affairs on "Addressing State Failure."
That can't be a welcome bit of trivia for Mexico's elites, who are known to transmit symbolic meaning into who the powerhouse to the north sends as its emissary. With so much criticism and negative press of Mexico swirling in the United States right now, Mexicans will be particularly sensitive to this topic.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce the ambassador appointment -- whether it's Carlos Pascual or someone else -- when he visits Mexico in mid-April.
