The Diplomat
Queen Letizia concluded her ninth cooperation trip in Guatemala with a meeting with indigenous leaders involved in the fight against gender violence, racism and discrimination.
The first day of work took place on Wednesday, in which, accompanied by the First Lady of the Republic of Guatemala, Lucrecia Peinado, Doña Letizia toured the Centenario Park in Guatemala City, where they observed the rehabilitation works of the park where the Spanish Cooperation.
Subsequently, he visited the Cultural Center of Spain in Guatemala, where he met with members of the Spanish Cooperation Office to learn about the main lines of work of the Country Association Framework with Guatemala 2021-2024 and the actors of Spanish cooperation who execute it. The Cultural Center of Spain was created in 2004 as a mixed associate center of the AECID.
Last February, the president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, and the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, signed a Joint Declaration in Madrid in which they expressed their interest “in continuing to strengthen ties of cooperation through holding a meeting of the Joint Technical Cooperation Commission between both countries to adopt a new Spain-Guatemala Country Association Framework for the period 2025-2028.”
Next, the Queen moved to Zone 18 of Guatemala City, where, accompanied by the mayor of Guatemala City, Ricardo Quiñónez, she visited the works of the Escuela Taller Norte, the first School Workshop in Guatemala City, which was born in 1999 after the devastating effects caused by Hurricane Mitch in October 1998 and which had the permanent support of Spanish Cooperation.
Yesterday’s day, Thursday, began in the town of San José Chacayá, where the Queen visited several Spanish cooperation projects on sanitation and water, health and malnutrition. Subsequently, she walked to the hall of the colonial church, where she met the Empowerment and Political Participation of Indigenous Women program and toured the product stands of the project beneficiaries.
Next, Doña Letizia held a meeting with leaders related to the Economic and Political Empowerment of Indigenous Women project for the eradication of gender violence, racism and discrimination, of the Association of Indigenous Cooperation for Comprehensive Development.
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).
