The Diplomat
The Government implicitly recognises the right of diplomats to freedom of expression, despite the reprimand of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luis Cuesta, to the Board of Directors of the Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE), which he accused of meddling in political issues by issuing a communiqué criticising some aspects related to the amnesty bill.
The PP deputy Pablo Hispán asked the government a question, to be answered in writing, in which he stated that, according to diplomatic sources, after the ADE’s communiqué on 10 November, in which it expressed its concern over the agreement between the acting government and Junts and ERC, “Minister Albares” had conveyed to the association his “unease and rejection” over the content of the note and for “meddling in political issues”.
For this reason, Hispan asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs if “he considers that only Ambassador Ridao has freedom of expression to attack the head of the opposition, as he did in December 2022″, in reference to an article published by the current Spanish ambassador to India, José María Ridao, in the newspaper El País, in which he was very critical of the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
He also asked: “Does Minister Albares consider that the Association of Spanish Diplomats does not have the right to present statements on the circumstances in Spain?
The Executive’s response to these questions is limited to pointing out that “article 20 of the Spanish Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression of all Spanish citizens”.
On 30 November, Albares ordered the dismissal from his post of the deputy director general of the Gibraltar Office, Javier Benosa, who on 3 November wrote an article in the newspaper El Mundo, in which he expressed his criticism of the planned Amnesty Law being prepared by the government of Pedro Sánchez.
