Luis Ayllón
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will have to decide, on his return from the summer break, which people will take charge of ten embassies, which were pending replacement or which have fallen vacant as a result of the latest senior appointments.
One of the diplomatic representations that has been left without an ambassador is that of Paris, which was occupied by Albares himself when he was chosen by Pedro Sánchez to replace Arancha González Laya at the head of Spanish diplomacy. This is a very important post for Spanish foreign policy and, obviously, the president of the government will be directly involved in the choice of the person who will be in charge.
Moreover, following the appointment of Juan Fernández-Trigo as Secretary of State for Ibero-America and Spanish in the World, the Spanish Embassy in Venezuela has been left without its top representative. Fernández-Trigo had been sent to Caracas as Chargé d’Affaires with Cabinet Letters, a formula used when relations between two countries are not at their best. But in any case, the post is vacant in a country with which relations have not been smooth in recent times, and it is to be hoped that it will soon be filled.
The embassy in Chile, whose head, Enrique Ojeda, has been appointed director general of Casa América, has also recently fallen vacant. Rumours in the Ministry pointed to the possibility of the post being filled by Rafael Garranzo, who has just been replaced as director general of Ibero-America by Xavier Martí.
The same applies to Albania, where the ambassador, Marcos Alonso, has been appointed ambassador as Spain’s permanent representative to the European Union; and to Sudan, where Alberto Ucelay was ambassador, he has been appointed director general for the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Spain’s permanent representation to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has also been vacated, after its head, Luis Cuesta, was appointed undersecretary of Foreign Affairs.
It will fall to Luis Cuesta to study, together with the minister, the names of possible candidates for the aforementioned embassies.
Albares could opt to put these embassies out to tender next autumn, along with dozens more which, in principle, are due to be renewed in 2022, but this would mean keeping them without an ambassador for a long time, a practice of his predecessor, Arancha González Laya, which was widely criticised.
In addition to these six destinations, there are another four whose replacement had been planned since last autumn and for which González Laya left the Ministry without having decided who the ambassadors would be.
One of these destinations is Greece, which was the most sought-after embassy last year by those aspiring to be ambassadors. The latest rumours suggested that Victoria González Román, the current director general for Western, Central and Southeast Europe, could be appointed to the post.
The other three posts awaiting a decision are the embassies in Jordan, Lebanon and Gabon, all of which, as well as the embassy in Athens, are still occupied by their current incumbents.
In addition, another important group of embassies are awaiting the arrival of the requested approvals from different countries, including the United Kingdom, which has been vacant since the beginning of February and to which José Pascual Marco, the current director general for Integration and Coordination of General Affairs of the European Union, will go, as reported by The Diplomat.
One of the destinations awaiting the plácet is the embassy in Moscow. The government chose Camilo Villarino, González Laya’s former chief of staff, for this post, but his appointment process could be complicated after a judge in Zaragoza summoned him as an investigator in the case of the entry into Spain of the Polisario Front leader, Brahim Ghali.
