The new Minister-Counselor of the US Embassy in Panama, who will serve as acting chief of mission until the arrival of an ambassador previously served as a volunteer in Panama during the military dictatorship and later  as a diplomat witnessed the handover of the canal 

Stewart  Tuttle  said he was " excited to return to Latin America to work with one of the great allies of the United States in the region " and added that " Panama has a special place in my  heart ."

He said that he volunteered in Panama in the eighties when he lived in Pedregal and La Chorrera.

"Then, I returned as a diplomat at the end of the nineties to discover a new and democratic Panama, rising to its rightful place on the world stage," he said in a press release released on Wednesday, August 12.

Before assuming the position at the Panamanian Embassy, Tuttle served as Public Affairs Counselor at the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain.

He has 27 years of foreign service experience and has worked in nine US embassies and consulates around the world, including Honduras, Panama and Colombia.

As a political section officer, he witnessed the Panama Canal transfer ceremony in December 1999 He  has a law degree from Brigham Young University