Foreign Ministry reorganizes honorary consulates in Colombia

Eduardo González The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has restructured its network of honorary consular offices in Colombia, closing those in Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Cúcuta, San Andrés, and Santa Marta, and modifying the consular jurisdiction of those in Cartagena de Indias, Cali, and Bucaramanga. According to the Ministerial Order of March 16, signed by the Minister, José Manuel Albares, in effect since March 17 and published last week in the Official State Gazette (BOE), the Spanish honorary consular network in the Republic of Colombia has consisted until now of the Honorary Consulates of Spain in Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena de Indias, Manizales, and Medellín, and the Honorary Vice-Consulates of Spain in Bucaramanga, Buenaventura, Cúcuta, Pasto, San Andrés, and Santa Marta. The offices in Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Buenaventura, and Cúcuta were established in 1969, while those in Cali, San Andrés, and Santa Marta were created between 1998 and 1999. The office in Cartagena de Indias was established in 2020, coinciding with preparations for the closure of the Consulate General of Spain in that city, which had been created in 2007 and was definitively closed in 2021. The reduced presence of Spaniards in the consular districts covered by the Honorary Consulate in Barranquilla and the Honorary Vice-Consulates in Buenaventura and Cúcuta have led to their closure, especially considering that the Honorary Consulates in Cartagena de Indias, Cali, and Bucaramanga, respectively, can assume their jurisdictions. The same reasoning can be applied to the Honorary Vice-Consulates of Spain in Santa Marta, which covered the department of Magdalena, and in San Andrés, intended to cover the departments of San Andrés and Providencia (the Rosario Islands) and Santa Catalina. Furthermore, their importance declined in 2007 with the opening of the Consulate General of Spain in Cartagena de Indias. Since 2021, their consular districts have been covered by the Consulate General of Spain in Bogotá, with support from the Honorary Consulate in Cartagena de Indias, and Colombian regulations consider them closed, having remained vacant for more than two years. The Ministerial Order, according to the Official State Gazette (BOE), adheres to the principles of good regulation, in accordance with the 2015 Law on Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, and pursues the general interest of improving the honorary consular presence in Colombia. This order does not impose any administrative burden on individuals or companies and contributes to streamlining the management of procedures related to consular offices. During the processing of this order, reports were obtained from the Directorate General for Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs and the Directorate General for Ibero-America and the Caribbean. Based on these modifications, the Honorary Consular Office of Spain in Cartagena de Indias will cover the departments of Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena, Sucre, Córdoba, and Atlántico; the office in Cali will cover the departments of Valle del Cauca and Cauca, including the city and port of Buenaventura; and the office in Bucaramanga will cover the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander.

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