Eduardo González
The Speaker of the Congress, Francina Armengol, will represent Spain this Saturday at the inauguration of Bolivia’s new president, Rodrigo Paz, as she announced on social media.
The King usually represents Spain at the inaugurations of Ibero-American presidents, a role that King Felipe has held since 1996 when he was still Prince of Asturias. However, on this occasion, he has been unable to attend due to the King and Queen’s state visit to China, which begins this Sunday.
In these cases, Spain’s representation usually falls to the Speaker of the Congress, as the third highest authority in the State. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who does not usually attend these events, will travel to Colombia this Saturday to attend the EU-CELAC summit. Armengol will be accompanied by the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo.
Armengol is already in Bolivia, where she attended the presentation of the economic program of Bolivia’s president-elect, Rodrigo Paz, this Friday at FEXPOCRUZ, one of the country’s most important economic and social events. “We attended this important event with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera; the State Secretary for Ibero-America, Susana Sumelzo; the EU Ambassador to Bolivia, Jaume Segura; and the Spanish Ambassador to Bolivia, Fernando García Casas,” she reported via social media.
The Speaker of the Lower House also met with Patricia Hurtado, president of the Iguales Foundation, which works to empower women and enable the social, political, and economic transformation of Bolivia. She pledged to “foster alliances between Spanish and Bolivian institutions.”
The previous day, Francina Armengol met “with Spanish and Bolivian business leaders” with whom she was able to “learn firsthand about the economic reality of this wonderful country.”
Rodrigo Paz, born in Santiago de Compostela
Rodrigo Paz Pereira, son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora and great-nephew of former president Víctor Paz Estenssoro (born in Santiago de Compostela in 1967, son of a Galician woman and nephew of the historic Galician nationalist leader Xosé Manuel Beiras), defeated former liberal-conservative president Jorge Quiroga in the second round of the Bolivian elections, held on October 19.
His victory ends nearly twenty years of rule by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), the party of outgoing president Luis Arce, whose candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, garnered a mere three percent of the vote in the first round of the elections, held on August 17.
Following his victory, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez congratulated him via social media and expressed his desire to continue “working together for solid and lasting cooperation.” For its part, the Government declared, in a statement, that “the Bolivian people and institutions have offered an example of civic responsibility and democratic and institutional respect during an exemplary election day, as confirmed by the Electoral Observation Missions present on the ground, supported by Spain.”
“The Government of Spain extends its best wishes for success to the President-elect and reiterates its commitment to continue strengthening the close ties of brotherhood that unite Spain with the Plurinational State of Bolivia, for the benefit of both peoples,” it concluded.
“I want to congratulate the President-elect of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz,” declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, upon his arrival at the meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. “Spain is certainly ready to work with Rodrigo Paz and the new Bolivian Government, especially at this time as we move towards the Ibero-American Community Summit in Madrid” in November 2026, he added.