The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday appointed José María Fernández López de Turiso, the current deputy director general of the Maghreb at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the new ambassador to Jamaica.
Fernández López de Turismo, who replaces Diego Bermejo, who will turn 70 on the 13th, the retirement age, has been responsible for affairs related to the countries of North Africa since October 2022, after having been deputy director general of the Middle East for just over a year.
A diplomat since 1991, the new ambassador to Jamaica is already familiar with the Caribbean region, having been ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago between 2013 and 2017 and serving in Cuba between 2002 and 2006.
In 2017, he became second in command at the Spanish Embassy in London, a position in which he had to act as chargé d’affaires from February to August 2021, after the then ambassador to the United Kingdom, Carlos Bastarreche, resigned and the Government took seven months to appoint a replacement.
Previously, he was Director General of Planning and Evaluation of Development Policies and Head of the Department of Cooperation with the Mediterranean and the Arab World and was also assigned to the Spanish Embassies in Namibia, Tunisia, Nicaragua and Italy.
The appointment of Fernández López de Turiso comes after a competition was held to replace 19 ambassadors throughout 2025. In addition, the Embassy in Colombia is vacant, following the appointment of Joaquín María de Arístegui as ambassador to Argentina.
On the other hand, the Council of Ministers approved the appointment of Esther Monterrubio as concurrent ambassador to the Solomon Islands, with residence in Australia; and of Cristina Pérez as concurrent ambassador to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with residence in Trinidad and Tobago
