The Diplomat
Yesterday the Council of Ministers appointed the until now State Secretary for Ibero-America, the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo, for the position of ambassador of Spain in Portugal, as The Diplomat had anticipated.
Fernández Trigo will replace Marta Betanzos in Lisbon, who had been in the position for more than five years. He took charge of the State Secretary for Ibero-America in July 2021, with the arrival of José Manuel Albares to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Born in 1958, Fernández Trigo has a long diplomatic career, which began in 1986, and which led him to be ambassador to Haiti, between 2007 and 2011. In that country, he was seriously injured in the arm during the earthquake in 2010, which caused serious damage to the Spanish diplomatic representation.
Subsequently, between 2011 and 2013 he was ambassador to Paraguay and, between 2013 and 2017, he held the position of ambassador-head of Delegation of the European Union in Uruguay. In 2017, the Government of Mariano Rajoy entrusted him with coordinating the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution in Catalonia, after the separatist attempt that year.
In 2018, with the arrival of Pedro Sánchez to the Government, Juan Fernández Trigo was appointed ambassador to Cuba and, two years later, he was entrusted with leading the Embassy in Venezuela, but not as ambassador, but as chargé d’affaires, because at that time relations between Madrid and Caracas were going through a delicate moment. In that position he remained until his appointment as Secretary of State.
Previously, he was assigned to the diplomatic representations of Spain in the European Union, Morocco, Vietnam, the United Nations in New York and Cuba. He has also been deputy director general of Multilateral International Economic Relations and Air, Maritime and Land Cooperation. He has been distinguished with decorations such as the Order of Civil Merit, the Order of Isabel la Católica or the Grand Cross of the Order of Honor and Merit of Haiti.
