The Diplomat
Yesterday Queen Letizia began her ninth cooperation trip in Guatemala, visiting the rehabilitation works of the Centenario Park in Guatemala City, in which Spanish Cooperation is involved.
Doña Letizia’s trip, which will conclude today, Thursday, is focused on three main axes: the fight against child malnutrition, the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, especially in indigenous populations; and youth, education, vocational training and decent work. Queen travels accompanied by the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados Galiano.
The Queen arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday, where she was received by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guatemala, María Luisa Ramírez, and the Spanish ambassador to Guatemala, María Clara Girbau, among other Guatemalan authorities and AECID personnel.
Yesterday’s day began at the National Palace of Culture, where she was received by the First Lady of the Republic of Guatemala, Lucrecia Peinado, and she had a working breakfast with María Clara Girbau, Eva Granados and representatives of the local authorities.
Subsequently, the Queen and the First Lady held a meeting on the challenges in Mental Health in Guatemala, in which the Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance, the Minister of Public Education, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare and the Vice Minister were present. of health; among other people.
Next, Doña Letizia, Lucrecia Peinado and the expert heritage coordinator, Luis Mozas, toured the Centenario Park in Guatemala City on foot, where they observed the rehabilitation works of the park where the Spanish Cooperation is involved.
The revitalization projects of the public space of the Historic Center of Guatemala City have their origin in the Master Plan of the Historic Center that the AECID developed jointly with the Municipality of Guatemala (1998-2003).
The objective of the program is to support the Municipality of Guatemala City in the processes of revitalization of public space, improving mobility, security and accessibility of the Historic Center of the city with a special gender focus. Comprehensive urban recovery is sought in physical, social, economic and environmental terms to improve the habitability conditions of its residents, the urban quality of the territory and favor the attraction of new residents and activities there.
This is the ninth Cooperation trip made by the Queen, who has recovered a custom started by Queen Sofia in 1997. Previously, Doña Letizia traveled to Honduras and El Salvador (2015), Senegal (2017), the Dominican Republic and Haiti (2018). ), Mozambique (2019), Honduras again (2020), Paraguay (end of 2021), Mauritania (May 2022) and Colombia (June 2023).
King Felipe VI visited Guatemala last January to attend the inauguration of President Bernardo Arévalo de León. On that occasion, the Monarch conveyed to the Guatemalan president Spain’s commitment to maintaining and strengthening its cooperation with the Central American country. In addition, Arévalo officially visited Spain in February. During this visit, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the president of Guatemala signed a Joint Declaration in Madrid in which they expressed their interest “in continuing to strengthen ties of cooperation by holding a meeting of the Joint Commission for Technical Cooperation between both countries to adopt a new Spain-Guatemala Country Association Framework (MAP) for the period 2025-2028.”
