US Consulate General in Juárez names new Consul General

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juárez on Monday announced Katharine Beamer as the new U.S. Consul General.

Consul General Beamer succeeds Rafael Foley, who served until July 7, officials said.

The U.S. Consulate in Juárez covers the entire state of Chihuahua as its consular jurisdiction.

Beamer is a senior member of the U.S. Career Foreign Service and has 25 years of diplomatic experience, officials said. She most recently served at the U.S. Embassy in Belize.

She also worked as the director of the office of Caribbean affairs at the State Department in Washington D.C.

Beamer grew up in Encinitas, California, and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in international relations in 2001. She also has a master's degree in sociology.

After graduating, she joined the Foreign Service and completed assignments in Washington within the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

She served at U.S. embassies in Guatemala, Poland, Slovakia, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Belize.

Additionally, she served as a state department Pearson fellow in the U.S. Senate and as a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, officials said.