Eduardo González
The Council of Ministers approved yesterday, at its last meeting before the summer break, the appointment of eleven new Spanish ambassadors to international organisations (the United Nations Office in Vienna and the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the EU) and to countries such as Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivory Coast, El Salvador, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, North Macedonia and Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, it appointed a new Director General of Protocol.
On the one hand, as The Diplomat had anticipated, the current Introducer of Ambassadors and Director General of Protocol, Chancellery and Orders, María Sebastián de Erice, has been appointed Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations Office and International Organizations based in Vienna. Her position will be occupied by Adrián Martín Couce, who was also appointed yesterday.
A member of the Diplomatic Service since 2007, abroad she has been assigned as second in command at the Spanish Embassy in Andorra la Vella and at the Spanish Embassy in Port of Spain. In July 2021 she was appointed Introducer of Ambassadors, after the arrival of José Manuel Albares to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously, since 2018, she held the position of Deputy Director General of Official Travel and Visits, Ceremony and Orders, in which she acted as second Introducer of Ambassadors. She was also number two at the Embassies in Trinidad and Tobago and Andorra, as well as Director of Institutional Relations at the Office of the High Commissioner of the Government for the Spain Brand.
Guillermo Ardizone is also the new permanent representative ambassador of Spain on the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union (COPS). A member of the Diplomatic Service since 1990, from October 2022 until March of this year, he was Director General of Foreign and Security Policy. In addition, he has held, among others, the positions of Head of Area for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in the General Directorate of International Economic Relations, Deputy Director General of Foreign Policy for the Middle East and Deputy Director General of the Diplomatic Information Office. Abroad, he has been the Spanish ambassador to Guinea-Conakry (2011-2014) and Tunisia (2018-2022), as well as counselor at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union.
On the other hand, Ángel Lossada Torres-Quevedo, who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 2008 and 2010, with Miguel Ángel Moratinos as Minister, has been appointed ambassador to Ghana. A diplomat since 1988, in April 2010 he suffered a brain aneurysm when he was participating in the closing ceremony of the IV Convention of Hispanic Leaders in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He was admitted in a very serious condition, but fortunately, after a long recovery process, he managed to return to work. After spending some time in the Ministry, he was assigned to the second position in charge of the Spanish Embassy in South Africa and, later, in June 2014, he was appointed ambassador to Cyprus and the Czech Republic.
In Madrid, among other positions, he has been Deputy Director General of the Middle East, Director General of International Affairs on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and, to date, Ambassador on Special Mission for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
As for the other ambassadors, the until recently Director General for Africa, Alicia Rico, is the new representative of Spain in Iraq. A member of the Diplomatic Service since 1991, she was Spanish ambassador to Ghana, has held the positions of second in command at the Spanish Embassies in Kuwait and Oman and counsellor in Luxembourg and, in the European sphere, she has been assigned to the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU (Brussels) from 2010-2015, dealing with the working group on Gulf countries, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. She was Director General for Africa until 11 June.
Iraq was one of the fifteen embassies that formed part of the so-called “embabombo” in diplomatic jargon, and about which, at the beginning of March, Minister José Manuel Albares announced that they would change ambassadors.
Esther Monterrubio is the new representative of Spain in Australia. A member of the Diplomatic Service since 1991, in 2011 she was appointed ambassador on Special Mission for Environment and Sustainable Development, in 2012 she was appointed ambassador on Special Mission for Peacekeeping Operations and, from 2018 to 2020, she was director of the Office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Currently, she was the permanent representative ambassador of Spain to the United Nations Office and international organizations based in Vienna.
For her part, María Molina Álvarez de Toledo is the new ambassador of Spain in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A member of the diplomatic service since 2001, she currently held the position of deputy director general of Foreign Policy and Common Security. She has been head of the Department of Cooperation with the Arab World and Asia at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
Guillermo Marín is the new ambassador to the Ivory Coast. Member of the Diplomatic Service since 1987, he is currently Consul General in Rabat (Morocco). Abroad, he has also held the positions of Consul General in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) and Deputy Permanent Observer (Second Head) to the Organization of American States (Washington, D.C., USA).
Sonia Isabel Álvarez is also the new Spanish ambassador to El Salvador. In the Diplomatic Service since 2002, she has held various positions in the central services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was deputy coordinator of the XXII Ibero-American Summit that took place in Cádiz in 2012. Since September 2021, she has held the position of Head of the Department of Cooperation with Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean at AECID.
The new Spanish ambassador to Guinea-Bissau is Enrique Conde, a member of the Diplomatic Service since 2005 and who, since August 2021, held the position of Minister Counsellor (second in command) at the Spanish Embassy in Andorra.
On the other hand, Rafael Soriano will be the new ambassador to North Macedonia. A member of the Diplomatic Service since 1991, since October 2021 he was the Spanish ambassador to the Ivory Coast and, since April 2022, he was the ambassador to Liberia.
The Embassy of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago is held by Cristina Pérez Gutiérrez. A member of the Diplomatic Service since 1995, she has been the Spanish ambassador to Costa Rica from October 2018 to 2022 and counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union (2011-2015), among other positions. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 2022 to date she has been ambassador on special mission for the Caribbean Strategy and, between 2017 and 2018, she was general director of Sustainable Development Policies at the State Secretariat for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean.
On the other hand, yesterday the Council of Ministers appointed Mónica Colomer to the position of ambassador on Special Mission for Development Financing and Carlos de la Morena as ambassador on Special Mission for the Caribbean.
