The Diplomat
The Official State Gazette (BOE) published on Saturday a royal decree appointing Ramón Santos Martínez as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Spain in Venezuela.
Ramón Santos will fill the vacancy left by Juan Fernández-Trigo, following his appointment as Secretary of State for Latin America and Spanish in the World.
Since November last year, when Jesús Silva stepped down, Spain has had no ambassador in Caracas, as it decided to downgrade its diplomatic representation in Venezuela to the level of Chargé d’Affaires with Cabinet Letters, a figure that shows that relations between the two countries are not fully satisfactory.
Several EU countries accredited in Caracas have done the same to express disagreement with the way in which the Bolivarian regime organised the last presidential elections, held in 2018.
Spain sent Fernández-Trigo, who was then ambassador to Cuba, as Chargé d’Affaires.
A diplomat since 1986, Ramón Santos was in charge of the international dimension of matters related to Catalonia in the Cabinet of former Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya. Previously, he was ambassador to Bolivia (2008-2012) and Panama (2015-2019), as well as ambassador on special mission for the Ibero-American Summits and deputy director general for Andean Community countries.
Ramón Santos had been posted to Mexico as consul general, but González Laya asked him to continue in his Cabinet, it was thought, with the idea that he would take over when Camilo Villarino was appointed ambassador to Moscow. However, the replacement of González Laya by José Manuel Albares at the Foreign Ministry made the operation impossible.
Given Santos’ experience in Ibero-American affairs, Albares offered him the possibility of taking charge of the embassy in Caracas, at a time when the government is committed to facilitating a way out of the Maduro regime so that it can hold the regional and municipal elections on 21 November, in which the opposition has announced its intention to participate, with guarantees.
