The Diplomat
The second day of Queen Letizia’s cooperation trip to Paraguay included the settlements of El Bañado Sur, where she was able to see the work carried out by the Spanish Cooperation in one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Asuncion, and the Juan de Salazar Cultural Center, the dean of the Network of Cultural Centers of Spain.
During the first day on Wednesday, the Queen – accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela – held a working meeting with the Technical Cooperation Office (OTC) in Asunción and visited the Spanish Cooperation projects to help women and young people in the city of Encarnación and the Jesuit missions of Trinidad del Paraná and Jesús de Tavarengue, declared World Heritage Sites and on whose rehabilitation AECID has been working. The day concluded with a meeting with representatives of the Spanish Cooperation at the residence of the Spanish Embassy.
The second day began with a visit to the Bañado Sur Family Care Center, dedicated to the prevention, care and dignification of women and girls who are victims of sexual violence and trafficking and which is located in one of the territories of the poverty belt of Asuncion. The Queen held a working meeting with representatives of the NGOs participating in the project and visited the facilities. Thanks to this project, in which Mujeres en Zona de Conflicto, AIETI and Plan International work, hundreds of women have been trained for employment and self-employment and have been attended to their social, psychological and legal needs.
Afterwards, Queen Letizia went to the Juan de Salazar Cultural Center of Spain, which, with its 45 years of operation, is the dean of the Network of Cultural Centers of Spain spread throughout Latin America and Equatorial Guinea and is a benchmark for cultural activities in the Paraguayan capital. During her visit, the Queen met with the director of the center, toured an exhibition of handicrafts made by indigenous people and visited the center’s library, one of the most important in Asuncion, which has a large collection of bibliographic materials based on Spanish culture. The Cultural Center has three main lines of work: the promotion of Spanish culture, cultural cooperation and the promotion of culture as an intrinsic element of development.
This is the sixth Cooperation trip made by the Queen, following those to Honduras and El Salvador (2015), Senegal (2017), Dominican Republic and Haiti (2018), Mozambique (2019) and again Honduras (2020). Spanish Cooperation has been present in Paraguay for almost 30 years, with a contribution of more than 200 million euros, making Spain one of the country’s main donors.
In November 2020, the Spain-Paraguay Country Partnership Framework 2020-2023 was signed, which defines the strategic priorities for this period and has a budget estimate of 142 million euros. In Paraguay, some ten organizations are mainly involved in strengthening and consolidating health and education services, water and sanitation projects, women’s empowerment, and development and support for indigenous peoples. Just a few days ago, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries, José Manuel Albares and Euclides Acevedo, held a meeting in Madrid in which they confirmed the “high level of understanding and cooperation” that exists between the two countries.
