The Diplomat
The Official State Gazette yesterday published the resignations of the ambassadors to Russia, Fernando Valderrama, and to Iran, Luis Felipe Fernández de la Peña, who in the second half of May reached retirement age, having reached 70 years of age.
The two diplomats have remained in their posts for several more weeks, waiting for Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya to decide on their replacements.
According to The Diplomat, the government agreed on the 8th to ask the Russian authorities for permission for Camilo Villarino, González Laya’s chief of staff, to become the new ambassador to Moscow, and the Iranian authorities to appoint Ángel Losada, until now the EU’s special envoy for the Sahel, as ambassador to Tehran.
The two embassies will be headed by Chargés d’Affaires until the Russian and Iranian governments grant the requested permissions and the new ambassadors can take up their posts.
Three other embassies have also been headed by Chargés d’Affaires for months, as their incumbents have retired and their replacements have not been appointed. These are India, which has been vacant for almost eight months, and for which the government has finally decided to ask for José María Ridao; the United Kingdom, which has been vacant for more than four months, and for which it is not yet known who will be chosen; and Bosnia and Herzegovina, without an ambassador since the end of March, and for which Teresa Lizaranzu is expected to go when her appointment is granted.
