King Felipe VI meets with outgoing and incoming presidents in Lima and receives the Spanish community

The Diplomat King Felipe VI met this Monday in Lima with the outgoing president of Peru, José María Balcázar, and his successor, Keiko Fujimori, one day before the new president's inauguration. The monarch also met with representatives of the Spanish community at the ambassador's residence. Felipe VI is in Lima to attend the presidential handover ceremony to Keiko Fujimori this Tuesday. The King usually represents Spain at the inaugurations of Latin American presidents, a task he has undertaken since 1996 when he was still Prince of Asturias. With Fujimori's inauguration, Felipe VI will have attended the inauguration of a Latin American leader 23 times since ascending the throne. Specifically, the monarch attended the inauguration of Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in 2016; in 2018 at the inauguration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico; in 2019, at that of Laurentino Cortizo of Panama; in 2020, at those of Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay and Luis Arce of Bolivia; in 2021, at those of Guillermo Lasso Mendoza of Ecuador and Pedro Castillo of Peru; in 2022, at those of Xiomara Castro of Honduras, Gabriel Boric of Chile, Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica and Gustavo Petro of Colombia; in 2023, at those of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Santiago Peña Palacios of Paraguay and Javier Milei of Argentina; in 2024, at those of César Bernardo Arévalo de León, president of Guatemala; José Raúl Mulino Quintero, president of Panama; and the re-elected Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic; In 2025, he will meet with the President of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi; and in 2026, with the Presidents of Portugal, António José Seguro; Chile, José Antonio Kast; and Costa Rica, Laura Fernández Delgado. The King, who is traveling with the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados, began his day at the Ambassador's Residence, where he was received by the Spanish Ambassador to the Republic of Peru, Alejandro Abellán, and met with representatives of the Spanish community. Afterward, King Felipe went to the Government Palace, where he met with the outgoing President, José María Balcázar. Following this meeting, he walked through the streets of Lima to the Torre Tagle Palace, where he met with the President-elect, Keiko Fujimori. At the end of the day, the King attended the official dinner hosted by Balcázar at the Government Palace in honor of the attending Heads of State and Government. Keiko Fujimori, candidate for the right-wing Popular Force party and daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), won the presidential election runoff on June 7, defeating Roberto Sánchez, the leftist candidate for Together for Peru. From 1994 to 2000, she served as Peru's First Lady, alongside her father, following the dismissal of her mother, Susana Higuchi. She is considered one of the most influential and powerful people in her country. Following Fujimori's victory, the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the current Peruvian ambassador to Spain, Luis Iberico, who will remain in his post until July 28, coinciding with the presidential transition. The decision to appoint a new ambassador will be made by the incoming government.

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