Luis Ayllón
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has recovered the State Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, whose responsibilities had been incorporated by his predecessor in the post, Arancha González Laya, into the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
This is the main new feature of the organisational restructuring of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published yesterday in the Official State Gazette.
Albares, according to sources in his department consulted by The Diplomat, considers that, together with membership of the European Union, attention to Latin America and the Spanish language define our way of being in the world.
For this reason, he has added to the recovered State Secretariat for Ibero-America the responsibilities for Spanish in the world, so that the name of the body will be “State Secretariat for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World”. To this end, the State Secretariat for Global Spain, which was headed by Manuel Muñiz, who resigned after the change of minister, has been abolished.
The experience of the year and a half in which Ibero-America was part of the State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs has not been very satisfactory, because its head, Cristina Gallach, had too many fronts to cover in other parts of the world, and her trips to the American subcontinent have been few and far between. Moreover, the situation of instability that some countries in the region, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, are experiencing for various reasons, requires greater attention from the Spanish government.
The recovery of the specific State Secretariat for Ibero-America has been well received in both Spanish and Ibero-American diplomatic circles, where it is stressed that Spain cannot lose that special connection with the region that only our country has, due to its historical, cultural and personal ties, in addition to the important economic interests of Spanish companies.
However, this is not the only change in the structure, with the State Secretariat for the European Union and the State Secretariat for International Cooperation remaining in place. According to The Diplomat, the head of the former, Juan González-Barba, has been confirmed. In the latter, Ángeles Moreno, who is considered to be very close to Albares, could remain as State Secretary, and could therefore also be promoted to another post, including the new State Secretariat for Ibero-America.
As for the State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs, whose head is usually considered to be the ‘number two’ in the Ministry, its name, after losing its Iberoamerican responsibilities, has been changed to ‘State Secretariat for Foreign and Global Affairs’.
The future of the current State Secretary, Cristina Gallach, is not very clear at the moment, and rumours in the Ministry suggest that she could be relieved of her duties.
The continuity of the under-secretary, Celsa Nuño, who arrived at the Ministry in May 2020, is also unclear. This is a post in which ministers usually want to have a person of their full confidence, among other reasons because it is very important for the appointment of ambassadors.
Changes are also expected in several directorates-general, which will come after the names of the people who will occupy the top positions in the Ministry are known. For the time being, Albares appointed Diego Martínez Balío as director of his Cabinet on Tuesday, replacing Camilo Villarino.
