The King attends Luis Abinader’s inauguration with Venezuelan crisis in the background

The Diplomat King Felipe VI held an extensive schedule of meetings yesterday, following his arrival in the Dominican Republic, which began with a meeting at the National Palace with the re-elected President Luis Abinader, who will take office today and thus begin his second and final term in office. The monarch, who travelled accompanied by the Secretary of State for Ibero-America, the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo, also met with representatives of the Spanish community in the Dominican Republic and met with the President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, who is one of the 14 heads of state and/or government attending the inauguration of Luis Abinader. Other presidents who have travelled to Santo Domingo include the presidents of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo; Panama, José Raúl Mulino; Paraguay, Santiago Peña; Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; and Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, as well as the vice-president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa. The presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, Honduras, Xiomara Castro, and Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, among others, are also expected to attend. Abinader's inauguration comes at a time when Venezuela is the centre of attention across the continent. For this reason, the regional leaders present in the Dominican capital plan to hold an informal discussion on Venezuela. On 31 July, seventeen countries - Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, United States, Uruguay and Uruguay - voted in the Organisation of American States (OAS) in favour of a resolution calling on the Venezuelan authorities to ‘immediately’ publish the election results. The proposal was not taken into account by the government of Nicolás Maduro. The King will attend today the inauguration of Luis Abinader and his vice-president, Raquel Peña. Later, at the National Palace, he will attend the reception and lunch offered to his guests by the Dominican president, before returning to Spain. This is the 86th inauguration that Don Felipe has attended since 1996, 17 of them as King of Spain. This year alone he has attended three other inaugurations, in Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama.

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