The Diplomat
Diplomat Guillermo Escribano was appointed yesterday as director general for Spanish around the World, a position recently created by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and reporting to the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World.
Born in Madrid in 1974, Guillermo Escribano holds a degree in Law and has been a member of the diplomatic career since 2002. He has been head of service at the Sub-Directorate General for the Middle East (2003-2004) and secretary at the Spanish Embassy in Berlin (Germany) for consular and administrative affairs (2004-2008).
He has also held the positions of cultural counselor at the Embassy of Spain in Rabat (2008-2012), head of the Department of Cooperation and Cultural Promotion of the AECID (2012-2015) and secretary for cultural and administrative affairs at the Embassy of Spain in Manila (2015-2018). Between 2018 and 2021 he held the second chief position at the Embassy of Spain in Warsaw and subsequently became deputy director general for Coherence of External Action. Since October 2021 he was an advisory member in the Cabinet of the Minister of Territorial Policy.
Aurora Mejía
On the other hand, the former director of the European Union Department of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, Aurora Mejía, has been appointed to the position of director of the Coordination Office for the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.
Born in Madrid in 1960 and a member of the Diplomatic Career since 1987, Mejía has been posted at the Spanish Embassies in Romania, Denmark and Brazil, as well as at the Permanent Representation of Spain to NATO. She has been an advisor to the International Department of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government on two occasions (from 1995 to 1996 and from 2005 to 2007) and ambassador on special mission for the Promotion of Gender Equality Policies (from 2007 to 2008). She was also director general of International Legal Cooperation (2008-2010) and director general of International Legal Cooperation and Relations with the Confessions (2010-2012), in the Ministry of Justice, and ambassador of Spain in Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 2012 to 2015).
In 2015, she was appointed ambassador in Special Mission to Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been deputy director general for Security in the Directorate General for Foreign and Security Policy (2016-2018) and director general for Western, Central and Southeast Europe in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2018-2020). Since 2020, she held the position of director of the European Union Department of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government.
Mejía is not the only senior government official expressly related to the Spanish Presidency of the EU, which will take place in the second half of 2023. According to reliable sources informed to The Diplomat, the diplomat Pascual Navarro Ríos will be in charge of the General Secretariat of the European Union, a body that was recovered by the Government last September 21 -when the new structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was approved- with a view, precisely, to the Spanish Presidency.
Joaquín Arístegui
On the other hand, Joaquín María de Arístegui Laborde will replace Marcos Gómez, recently appointed ambassador to Russia, as head of the Spanish Embassy in Colombia, as The Diplomat had previously reported.
Born in Madrid in 1966, a law graduate from the Autonomous University (UAM) and a member of the Diplomatic Career since 1992, Arístegui has held various technical and managerial positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Organizing Committee of the Barcelona Olympic Games (COOB 92), in the Directorates General of Europe, Asia-Pacific and International Economic Relations and in the Office of the Government High Commissioner for the Spain Brand. In 2018 he was appointed Director General of the Global Spain Office, in the Secretary of State for Global Spain.
Abroad he has been posted at the Embassies in Bucharest, San Salvador, Bangkok, The Hague and Geneva (United Nations and International Organizations). He has also been Consul General in Beijing and Lyon. He was ambassador in Geneva (alternate to the United Nations and International Organizations), from 2007 to 2009, and in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Suriname, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), from 2010 to 2014. Until June 2021, he was Director General of Sports at the Secretariat of State for Sports.
