Luis Ayllón
The Director General of Protocol, Chancellery and Orders, Caridad Batalla, has been proposed by the Board of the Diplomatic Career to occupy the Spanish Consulate General in New York, as The Diplomat has learned from reliable sources.
Caridad Batalla’s appointment is pending approval of the proposal by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, who is expected to decide before the 20th of next year on the call for posts abroad, known among diplomats as “el Bombo”.
Caridad Batalla was appointed ambassador introducer in September 2018, but in February 2020, her post recovered the name of general director of Protocol, although the functions are the same, i.e. to coordinate the celebration of official acts and ceremonies related to foreign policy, especially the official trips of the King and Queen abroad and the visits of foreign heads of state to our country. She also attends the presentation of Letters of Credence to the King by the new ambassadors accredited in Spain.
Previously, she was Ambassador to Cape Verde, Consul General in Caracas, Counsellor in the Permanent Representation of Spain to the UN, Deputy Director General of Cultural Action Abroad, Advisor in the Cabinet of the Minister of Defence and Counsellor in the Spanish Embassy in France, among other positions.
At the proposal of the Board of the Diplomatic Career, the minister will also have to decide on other proposals to head several consulates, such as the one in Puerto Rico, for which José María Bosch, former ambassador to Jamaica and former delegate of the Generalitat de Catalunya in Madrid, has been chosen; Rabat, for Guillermo Marín, who had been occupying the post on secondment since it became vacant when the incumbent, Celsa Nuño, under-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was appointed; Bogotá, for which Jesús Gracia, former ambassador to Havana, has been proposed; and Cape Town, which has been awarded to Jesús Silva, former ambassador to Caracas.
In addition, as The Diplomat has already reported, the Board proposed Alberto Navarro, the current EU ambassador to Havana, as consul in Boston.
