Profile: Frank Almaguer

Distinguished Careers in U.S. Diplomacy

I’m sharing sketches of the U.S. diplomats featured in Profiles in Service (ADST / Arlington Hall Press, 2026) every Tuesday; later in the week I’ll share a related moment linking Peace Corps service to diplomatic efforts, some simple, some strange, some extraordinary.

Influence and Accountability

Criticism is hard to take, but it becomes more palatable when that criticism is seen as a desire to be constructive and even sympathetic…

– Frank Almaguer (PCV British Honduras/Belize 1967-69; PTO Belize 1974-76; PC Country Director Honduras 1976-79; U.S. Ambassador to Honduras 1999-2002)

Following his volunteer years in Belize, Frank Almaguer served as Peace Corps Country Director in Honduras. There he helped staff, volunteers, and family through their grief following the tragic hit-and-run death of a volunteer at the alleged hands of a Honduran military officer.

Twenty-five years later Almaguer returned as ambassador to Honduras, leading U.S. clean-up efforts in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, which devastated the country a year earlier, leaving over 20,000 people dead or missing throughout the region.

I was very outspoken [as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras]. I talked extensively about development issues afflicting Honduras. But first I had to develop the reputation for being a true friend of the country and its people and with a helpful approach, not just for the sake of criticizing.

When Almaguer presented his credentials to President Carlos Roberto Flores Facussé in 1999, the president made a surprising remark.

“When I first heard they were sending a former Peace Corps Volunteer as ambassador, I was worried. Everybody knows we politicians visit the countryside to campaign, but you Peace Corps people really know the campo.”

The relationship flourished from there. Almaguer traveled widely with Flores, with the Hondurans reframing hurricane clean up as a “transformative opportunity” to remake government and society, passing legislation and executive orders to embed the principles of transparency and good governance into the effort.

Read more from Almaguer’s oral history with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training:

Full Career

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