The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday appointed María Jesús Alonso as Spain’s ambassador to Argentina, a post which, for the first time, will be held by a woman, as The Diplomat reported.
María Jesús Alonso, who until recently was ambassador to the Netherlands, replaces Javier Sandomingo in Bueno Aires, who had been in the post since June 2017.
Spain’s new ambassador to Argentina has a long diplomatic career, which began in 1983 and has led her to be ambassador to Cameroon and Ghana, before being appointed, in August 2018, ambassador to The Hague, where she also held the post of Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In addition, she has been Deputy Director-General for Eastern Europe and Ambassador for the Promotion of Gender Equality Policies, and was posted to the Embassies in Turkey, Denmark and NATO.
In addition, the Council of Ministers appointed Raimundo Robredo as the new ambassador to South Africa, replacing Carlos Fernández-Arias, as The Diplomat also reported. This is a long-awaited appointment, as the South African authorities had given their approval on 8 October.
Robredo had been director general for Africa since June 2017, first with Alfonso Dastis as foreign minister and then with Josep Borrell and Arancha González Laya at the head of the Ministry, he was to be appointed ambassador to Thailand, but after the arrival of José Manuel Albares at the Palace of Santa Cruz, the request for the Thai authorities’ approval was withdrawn and he was given Pretoria as his new destination.
A diplomat since 2001, he had already been stationed in South Africa between 2006 and 2009 and served as second-in-command in Senegal and Chile. Between 2012 and 2014, he was an advisory member of the Department of International Affairs of the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, with the rank of deputy director general, in charge of Asian and African affairs.
The Council of Ministers also appointed Victorio Redondo as ambassador to the Principality of Monaco, who maintains his residence in Paris, where he has also been ambassador since 129 September last year.
Finally, as this website reported yesterday, Alejandro Abellán has been appointed by the Council of Ministers as the new Director General for the Coordination of the Internal Market and Other Community Policies.
