<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>King Felipe VI attended this Saturday the inauguration of the new president of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, who thus becomes the ninth president of this country since the restoration of democracy, exactly forty years ago.</strong></h4> The King's day began with a meeting with Luis Rodolfo Abinader, president of the Dominican Republic, and continued at the residence of the Spanish ambassador, Javier Salido, where he held an audience with a representation of the Spanish community residing in Uruguay. Later, the Monarch attended, in the Plaza de la Independencia in Montevideo, the Ceremony of Transmission of the Presidential Command, with the transfer of the presidential sash and the assumption and signing of acts of the incoming ministers. The event ended with a few words from President Orsi, in which he highlighted the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the return of democracy and recalled that during his mandate the 200 years of the birth of Uruguay as a country will be commemorated. Orsi is the ninth president since the restoration of democracy in 1985. He was preceded by Julio María Sanguinetti (1985-1990), Luis Lacalle Herrera (1990-1995), Julio María Sanguinetti (1995-2000), Jorge Batlle (2000-2005), Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010), José Mujica (2010-2015), Tabaré Vázquez (2015-2020) and Luis Lacalle Pou (2020-2025). The King and the other heads of delegations then greeted the new president of Uruguay and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mario Lubetkin, thus concluding Felipe VI's attendance at the inauguration. Later, Don Felipe began his return to Spain. The Monarch was accompanied at all times by the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel, who, for his part, held bilateral meetings with Lubetkin - with whom he discussed, among other issues, the agreement between the EU and Mercosur and the Ibero-American Summit in 2026 in Madrid - and with his Guatemalan counterpart, Carlos Ramiro Martínez. Yamandú Orsi, candidate of the Frente Amplio, won the presidential elections last November against the official candidate, Álvaro Delgado, of the National Party, which makes him the third leftist president in the history of Uruguay. He succeeds Luis Lacalle Pou in office and will serve as President for five years, until March 1, 2030. After his electoral victory, the new president was congratulated by the Spanish Government, both by the president, Pedro Sánchez, who expressed his desire to work “together” to promote “the fight against climate change and social justice”, and by Yolanda Díaz, who stressed that “the Frente Amplio will once again make Uruguay a benchmark in Latin America and the world”.
