<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <strong>The current ambassador of Spain in Paraguay, Carmen Castiella Ruiz de Velasco, will assume the position of diplomatic advisor to Felipe VI next December, in which she will replace the veteran diplomat Alfonso Sanz Portolés.</strong> Catiella was born in Bilbao in 1972 and has been a career diplomat since October 1999. She holds a degree in Economic Law from the University of Deusto, a Master's degree in European Communities and Human Rights from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, a Master's degree in International Business Law from the Instituto de Empresa and a diploma from the IESE Leadership Program for Public Management. She has been assigned to the Spanish Embassies in Guatemala and France, as well as to the Permanent Representation of Spain to the United Nations in New York. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs she has been assigned to the Office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and also to the Department of International Policy and Security of the Office of the President of the Government. At the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) she was head of the Department of Cooperation with Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, and since 2017, director of Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean. In August 2021 she was appointed ambassador to Paraguay. Castiella will succeed Alfonso Sanz Portolés (born in 1954), who has held various responsibilities in the Royal Household since 1993 and was appointed diplomatic advisor in June 2019. The King's diplomatic advisors report directly to the Head of the Royal Household and their holder must belong to the Diplomatic Service. The appointment of Carmen Castiella, announced last Monday by the Royal Household, was decided personally by the Monarch himself, making use of the powers granted to him by Article 65 of the Constitution, which establishes, in its second point, that "the King freely appoints and relieves the civil and military members of his Household." Felipe VI and his new diplomatic advisor met last February in Madrid during the working visit made to our country by the President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña.
