Luis Ayllón
Twelve foreign ambassadors, who are already in Spain, are waiting to be summoned to present their Letters of Credence to the King at the Royal Palace.
The last ceremony for the presentation of Letters of Credence took place on 23 May, almost five months ago, when the new ambassadors of Venezuela, Nicaragua, United Arab Emirates, Gambia, New Zealand and Kazakhstan came to the Royal Palace.
At that time, several other ambassadors had already arrived in Madrid to take up their duties, but were not included in the ceremony: those of Peru, Walter Gutiérrez; El Salvador, Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli; Iran, Reza Zabib; and Thailand, Vosita Vorasaph. Normally, the Royal House makes groups of six or seven ambassadors for the presentation of Credentials, rigorously following the order of arrival in our country and the delivery of the Style Copies of their Letters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Although several more ambassadors arrived shortly afterwards and it would have been possible to hold a new ceremony for the presentation of Letters of Credence, this did not take place. The fact that there has been an electoral process in Spain, with municipal and regional elections, first at the end of May, and then general elections, is not an impediment to ambassadors being able to present their Letters of Credence. Although the government is currently in office, the King is not and can carry out this task.
The fact is that, since the last Credentials Ceremony, nearly five months have passed and there are already a total of eleven ambassadors who have presented their ‘Copias de Estilo’, but who have not been summoned to present their Letters of Credence.
This means that they will not be able to be present at the National Day celebrations on 12 October, presided over by His Majesty the King, since, although they can carry out their work in the country after presenting their ‘Copias de Estilo’, they cannot participate in official acts with the Head of State until they present their Letters of Credence. Their respective countries will be represented by the Minister Counsellor or another diplomat from the Embassy, if they deem it appropriate.
In addition to the aforementioned ambassadors of Peru, El Salvador, Iran and Thailand, the ambassadors of Italy, Giuseppe María Buccino Grimaldi, Angola, Alfredo Dombe, and Vietnam, Dohn Hanh Song, all of whom arrived in Madrid in June, are in this situation; as well as the ambassadors of Mozambique, Eugenio Agostinho Langa, who arrived in July, and of the Czech Republic, Libor Sečka, who arrived in August; the ambassadors of Costa Rica, Adriana Bolaños Argueta, and of Turkey, Nüket Küçükel Ezberci, both of whom arrived in September, and the new Chinese ambassador, Yao Jing, who arrived last week.
