Luis Ayllón
The diplomat María Pérez Sánchez-Lauhlé, who until last Tuesday was undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, will be the next ambassador of Spain in the Czech Republic, as The Diplomat learned from diplomatic sources.
María Pérez Sánchez-Lauhlé will replace Alberto Moreno, a diplomat who will retire at the end of March, who was a Podemos candidate for mayor of Majadahonda and who had been in charge of the Embassy in Prague since September 2022.
The future ambassador to the Czech Republic was appointed undersecretary of Culture and Sports in February 2023, with Miquel Iceta being minister and, when he was dismissed and replaced by the current head of the Ministry of Culture, Ernest Urtasún, she was confirmed in the position, although without sports powers.
A diplomat since 2006, she held various technical positions in the State Secretariat for the European Union until 2008 and then she joined the cabinet of the State Secretariat for Ibero-America as a technical advisor. From 2009 to 2010 she was part, as an advisory member, of the cabinet of the Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Trinidad Jiménez.
Abroad, she was assigned between 2010 and 2013 to the Spanish Embassy in La Paz (Bolivia) as Secretary of the Embassy and in charge of Cultural Affairs. Later, until 2015, she was Cultural Advisor at the Embassy in San José (Costa Rica), where she also directed the Cultural Center of Spain.
Between 2016 and 2019 she returned to Bolivia as ‘number two’ and served as director of the Cultural Center of Spain in La Paz until 2018.
In September 2019 she returned to Madrid and joined the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), first as head of the Support Unit of the director of Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean; and, since March 2020, as head of the Department of Cooperation with the Andean Countries and the Southern Cone.
In August 2021 she was appointed director of the Cabinet of the Secretary General of Culture, Víctor Francos, and later, Undersecretary of Culture and Sports.
Javier Istúriz, to Oman
On the other hand, as The Objective reported, it is confirmed that Javier Istúriz, current Chief of Staff of the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Cuesta, will be the next ambassador of Spain in Oman, replacing María Luisa Huidrobro.
Istúriz entered the Diplomatic Career in 1997 and has held the second heads in the Spanish Embassies in Kyiv, Seoul and Hanoi and has been posted in the diplomatic representations in Tokyo and Washington.
In addition, he has been deputy director general of Bilateral Economic Relations and Economic Diplomacy and deputy deputy director general at the Gibraltar Office.
