Luis Ayllón
The diplomat Santiago Jiménez Martín, who was deputy head of Staff of Pablo Iglesias when he was vice-president of the Government; and director of Staff of the Minister for Social Rights and Agenda 2020, Ione Belarra, is being considered as Spain’s new ambassador to Uruguay, according to The Diplomat, according to reliable sources.
If his appointment is confirmed, once the Uruguayan authorities give their placet, Jiménez would become the second career diplomat linked to Podemos to head an embassy. Barely a month ago, the government appointed Alberto Moreno, who had been Podemos’ candidate for mayor of Majadahonda in the 2019 municipal elections, as ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Santiago Jiménez entered the diplomatic career in 2005 and held various diplomatic posts until the formation of the coalition government between PSOE and Unidas Podemos in January 2020. Then, the newly appointed second vice-president of the Government and Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Pablo Iglesias, called him to be deputy director of a Cabinet headed by the former Chief of Defence Staff Julio Rodríguez.
In March 2021, after Iglesias left the Vice-Presidency of the Executive, Santiago Jiménez became the director of the Cabinet of the new Minister of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Ione Belarra, until last May, when he resigned to return to the diplomatic career. Jiménez went on to work at the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), although he was also recently part of an OSCE election observation mission in Bosnia.
Santiago Jiménez has been a personal friend of Pablo Iglesias since his youth, and in his cabinet he was one of his main advisors on international affairs, accompanying him on some of his trips, such as the one he made to La Paz to attend the inauguration of Luis Arce as president of Bolivia.
The appointment of Santiago Jiménez as ambassador to an Ibero-American country such as Uruguay will undoubtedly be welcomed by Podemos, which is very hopeful about the arrival of left-wing formations close to power in some countries in the region, such as Chile, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru in recent times, and which could be joined by Brazil.
However, Santiago Jiménez’s greatest diplomatic experience is in the Middle East, as he has been posted to the Embassies in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – where he was ‘number two’ -, as well as having been Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the Spanish Embassy in Damascus, between 2012 and 2015, during the toughest years of the war in Syria, and residing part of that time for security reasons in Beirut.
In addition to having worked between 2008 and 2012 in Moncloa, during the presidency of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Santiago Jiménez has held positions related to the media. He was assigned to the Diplomatic Information Office on several occasions, most recently in 2019, as deputy director general. His experience led him to write the book “Diplomacy and Journalism: Cooperation or Competition?”, in which he analyses the influence of the media on foreign policy.
When his appointment takes place, Santiago Jiménez will replace José Javier Gómez-Llera, who has held the post of ambassador since March 2019, at the Embassy in Montevideo.
