Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, received yesterday in Madrid his counterpart from Honduras, Eduardo Enrique Reina García, who explained to him the “importance for the Government of President Xiomara Castro of the use of financing funds in health matters.” ”, in reference to a soft loan for the construction of hospitals that was finally denied by Spain after verifying that it was going to be diverted to other purposes.
“I receive in Madrid my counterpart from Honduras, Enrique Reina García,” declared Albares through the social network The meeting took place at the ministerial headquarters of the Viana Palace.
“Very good meeting with Minister Albares,” stated, for his part, the Honduran Foreign Minister through the same social network. “We talked about the bilateral agenda, especially the importance for the Government of President Xiomara Castro of the use of financing funds in health matters,” he added.
The Spanish Government announced at the end of 2020, during a visit to Honduras by Queen Letizia after the passage of hurricanes Eta and Iota, the delivery of a soft loan of 70 million euros to Honduras for the construction of three new hospitals. The credit was confirmed in August 2022 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during a visit to Honduras and finalized through an agreement in February 2023, during the state visit of President Xiomara Castro to Madrid.
However, last September, the Honduran Minister of Finance, Rixi Moncada, informed Spain that her Government was renouncing this project and requested that the funds could be redirected to “other purposes”, specifically the modernization of three hospitals. From Tegucigalpa. In his response, the Spanish Government warned Honduras that, in such case, the 70 million euros will not be disbursed because the new objectives of the Government of Honduras “were not part of the program discussed between both parties.”
In the middle of that same month of September, the Honduran Minister of Health, José Manuel Matheu, admitted that “the situation with Spain must be improved, because they have graciously provided that money,” and that “the generosity of the Spanish people can still be used to direct it to finance these hospitals, because Spain was already involved in this.” Likewise, he stated that “the last word” on Spanish aid has not yet been said and that, “with funds from Spain or with funds from Honduras, the hospitals will be built.” He also assured that “the diplomatic relationship is very important” and that Spain “is a brother people and is our door to Europe.”
On the other hand, during their conversation yesterday, Albares and Reina also addressed the upcoming pro tempore presidencies of Honduras of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Xiomara Castro will hold the presidency of CELAC starting in January 2024, replacing the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves.
