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President Barack Obama has chosen the new United States Ambassador to Belize. He is Vinai Thummalapally – an Indian American businessman from Colorado Springs and he and President Obama go way back. How far back? Well their friendship goes back to the summer of 1980 when they were roommates at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The two jogged together daily, played basketball, and studied together. They remained friends even after Obama left Occidental College in Los Angeles for Columbia University in New York.

The two are considered close friends, close enough that “ambassador to be” Vinai was at Obama’s wedding in 1982 and was in Illinois in 2007 when Obama announced that he was running for President. Vinai is also listed as raising between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama’s campaign. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in mechanical engineering and is currently the president of a disc manufacturing company. He is originally from Hyderabad in India.

His nomination will have to go through the U.S. Senate and approval is almost certain. It is probably just a coincidence but former U.S. Ambassador Robert Dieter – a college buddy of the last President George W. Bush was also from the state of Colorado. This time Prime Minister Dean Barrow has said that according to what Obama has told him, the college buddy connection will make it easier for President Obama to make a visit to Belize.