Maria Otero (born 1950) was the first holder of the office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights from January 15, 2012, through February 4, 2013.

Otero was born in La Paz, Bolivia,[1] one of nine children, and moved to the United States at the age of 12 when her father was one of the founding officers of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Her cousin is Jaime Aparicio Otero, a Bolivian Ambassador to the US and former President of the Inter-American Juridical Committee of the OAS.

[3] She is married to Joseph T. Eldridge, a human rights advocate who is Senior Fellow at the Washington Office of Latin America (WOLA) and was, for 19 years the head chaplain at American University.

She is co-editor with Elisabeth Holmes Rhyne of the 1994 book The New World of Microenterprise Finance : Building Healthy Financial Institutions for the Poor.

Otero's awards include selection by Newsweek in October 2005 as one of the United States' 20 most influential women; Hispanic Business Magazines ‘Elite Women of 2007’; Notre Dame University's Distinguished Service in Latin America Award; and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Otero is currently the highest ranking Hispanic official at the State Department, and the first Latina Under Secretary in its history.