The Diplomat
Diplomat Javier Benosa is the new head of the Gibraltar Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Diplomat learned from diplomatic sources.
Benosa, who dealt with matters related to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), within the Directorate General for Foreign and Security Policy, has now taken up his post, which had become vacant with the departure of Mario González Pliego, who has been assigned to the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union in Brussels.
The arrival of Benosa, who will have the rank of deputy director general, comes days after the office, which deals with Gibraltar affairs, was reduced to a minimum, as the departure of its head was joined by the departure of two other people who worked there and were posted abroad, as reported by The Diplomat.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, gave instructions to resolve the situation and to have a new head of the Office at a time when the negotiation process between the European Commission and the United Kingdom on the future of the Rock after Brexit is underway, a process that could be reactivated after the agreement reached by Brussels and London on Northern Ireland.
Throughout his diplomatic career, which began in 1997, Javier Benosa has held various posts abroad, such as second-in-command at the Embassy in Bern (Switzerland) or the Consulate General in Cordoba (Argentina). He has also been posted in Nigeria, Mexico, France and Tunisia; and has been head of the Evaluation and Prevention Unit in the AECID’s Humanitarian Aid Office.
