The Diplomat
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, yesterday awarded the Grand Cross of Military Merit with white badge to the Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations, Agustín Santos Maraver, “for his help in obtaining the command of the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon”.
“In addition to the good work and professionalism of the Spanish Armed Forces, which are very dear to the Lebanese citizens, the ambassador’s intervention was fundamental” to achieve, for the second time, the appointment of a Spanish major general to lead the UNIFIL mission, a contingent of 10,000 ‘blue helmets’ and 800 civilians from 46 countries that constitutes the most important operation of Spain in the United Nations, said Robles during the ceremony, held at the headquarters of the Ministry. The decoration is awarded to civilians for their meritorious activities related to national defense.
In his words of thanks, the ambassador stated that “the decoration does not correspond to me, but to the more than 700 military personnel who are currently carrying out peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and other places, of whom we are deeply proud”. Likewise, Santos expressed his confidence in continuing “to raise not only the name of Spain but also that of its Armed Forces to the level that corresponds to it in the United Nations”.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral General Teodoro López Calderón, who proposed the awarding of the Grand Cross to the Spanish Ambassador to the UN, declared during the ceremony that “the support of the diplomats and the embassies where we deploy is fundamental for the success of the mission”. The ceremony was also attended by the Army Chief of Staff, Army General Amador Enseñat, the Secretary General of Defense Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Nuñez, among other civilian and military authorities. The recognition was also joined by the Ukrainian Army Colonel Yulia Tapaciok, head of bilateral relations for Europe of the Ukrainian Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is in Spain to coordinate the training of the Ukrainian military on Spanish territory.
