Eduardo González
The Council of Ministers appointed Sergio Farré as Spain’s ambassador to Malaysia on Monday, June 29, five months after he was expelled from Nicaragua by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
A career diplomat since 2005, Sergio Farré was appointed ambassador to Nicaragua in early December 2015, but barely a month after his appointment, the Ortega-Murillo government ordered his expulsion on January 25 without providing any reasons. In response, Spain ordered the expulsion of Nicaragua’s ambassador in Madrid, Mauricio Carlo Gelli, and since then there has been neither a Spanish ambassador in Managua nor a Nicaraguan ambassador in Madrid.
Following his expulsion from Managua, he has served, since March 2026, as an advisor in the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Global Affairs, working on the implementation of the Spanish Strategy for Asia-Pacific (2026-2029).
Farré also served as Deputy Head of Mission at the Spanish Embassies in Sudan and Slovenia, Counselor for the United Kingdom at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU, and Counselor for Culture and Science in Bolivia and the Kingdom of Belgium.
He has also been Head of the Department of University and Scientific Cooperation at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in Madrid, diplomatic advisor and spokesperson for the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (Barcelona), and coordinator of the Working Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (COLAC) at the European External Action Service (Brussels). He has worked as a mediator and expert in conflict resolution and intercultural communication.
Separately, the Council of Ministers has appointed Consuelo Femenía as Spain’s ambassador to Brazil, replacing Mar Fernández-Palacios. A career diplomat since 1992, Femenía has served as Spain’s ambassador to Latvia, Malta, and, until now, to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. She has also held positions in various departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), including International Cooperation, Communication, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, and Multilateral Affairs, among others. She has also served as Director of International Cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean, Deputy Director of Cultural and Scientific Agreements, and Ambassador on Special Mission for the Arms Trade Treaty.
The new ambassador to the Netherlands, replacing Femenía, is Cecilia Robles. A graduate in Classical Philology and a member of the Diplomatic Corps since 1997, she has served at the embassies in Luanda and Nouakchott, the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and the Consulate General in Brussels. At the central offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she has worked in the Deputy Directorates General for Consular Protection, Southeast Asia, and the Human Rights Office, and as an advisor in the Directorates General for Ibero-America and for the United Nations and Human Rights. In August 2021, she was appointed Director General for the United Nations, International Organizations, and Human Rights, and since December 2024, she has directed the Diplomatic School.
Meanwhile, Manuel Nuche is the new Spanish ambassador to Thailand, replacing Felipe de la Morena. A member of the Diplomatic Corps since 2004, he has served at the Embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland, and at the Consulate General in Dakar, Senegal. He has held various positions in the Directorate General for Spaniards Abroad and Consular Affairs and has been an advisor in the Offices of the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in the Technical Office of the Undersecretary, and in the Technical Office of the Directorate of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Since 2023, he has been Deputy Director General for Visas and Travel Documents at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, María de los Ángeles García de Lara is the new Spanish Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, replacing Carmen Díez Orejas. A law graduate and member of the Diplomatic Corps since 2002, she has served at the Spanish Embassy in Honduras, as cultural attaché in Denmark, as deputy head of mission at the Spanish Embassy in North Macedonia, and as deputy head of protocol at the Royal Household. Between 2015 and 2023, she was political attaché at the Spanish Embassies in France and Morocco. Since 2023, she has been an advisor in the Department of Foreign Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The new Spanish ambassador to Lesotho, based in South Africa, is José María Pascual. A law graduate from the University of Salamanca and a career diplomat since 2002, during Spain’s 2002 Presidency of the EU, he worked in the General Secretariat for European Affairs and, subsequently, as deputy to the Director General for the Internal Market. Between 2012 and 2013, he served as an advisor to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and, between 2013 and 2016, as Chief of Staff, with the rank of Director General, to the President of the Constitutional Court. During Spain’s 2023 Presidency of the EU, he chaired the Working Group on the Law of the Sea in Brussels and participated in the United Nations negotiations on the extension of Galicia’s continental shelf. Abroad, he has served as Counselor at the Spanish Embassy in Portugal (2007-2012) and Deputy Head of Mission in Libya (2004-2007), Brazil (2016-2020), and South Africa (2020-2023). Since 2025, he has been Ambassador to South Africa and the Comoros, and since 2026, to Mauritius.
