Luis Ayllón
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has begun to clear up the unknowns about who will occupy the eleven embassies that were put out to tender last December and which will be filled throughout this year.
According to diplomatic sources consulted by The Diplomat, the Government has asked or will soon ask for the corresponding authorisations to appoint the new ambassadors, among them, it seems, Juan José Sanz, special delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Campo de Gibraltar, who for the last three years has been the Government’s ‘antenna’ on the ground to know what is happening in the Rock and its surroundings.
Juan José Sanz, who has extensive experience in Gibraltar and legal affairs, will, according to the sources consulted, be the new ambassador to Serbia, once the Belgrade authorities give their approval to the appointment. The embassy in Serbia, currently occupied by Raúl Bartolomé, has been one of the most sought-after by diplomats who have applied for one of the eleven posts put out to tender, most of them in Africa.
Along with Serbia, Vietnam and Bangladesh, they are the only ones that are not on the African continent. For Hanoi, where the current ambassador is Pilar Méndez, the person chosen, according to the same sources, is Carmen Cano, currently deputy director general for South and East Asia, and an expert on China, as she was head of the EU Delegation in Hong Kong and Macao, after having been the second head of the European Delegation in Beijing.
Albares has also reportedly decided to appoint Javier Conde y Martínez de Irujo, currently deputy director general for Justice and Home Affairs in the Secretariat of State for the EU, to the sensitive embassy in Libya, the only African embassy in the Maghreb. He would replace Javier García-Larrache, who in recent years has been in charge of reopening the diplomatic representation in Tripoli.
In sub-Saharan Africa, in Ethiopia, Manuel Salazar would leave his post to Guillermo López Mac-Lellan, who is currently Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, and who has been ambassador to Equatorial Guinea.
Teresa Orjales would take over from Alberto Cerezo as ambassador to Mozambique. She is currently deputy director general for European Union countries and has been ambassador to Estonia.
The sources consulted finally indicated that Gloria Mínguez, currently an adviser in the Directorate General for Spanish in the World, would go as ambassador to Niger, although rumours circulating in the Ministry in recent weeks suggested that the post currently held by Nuria Reigosa would be filled by Ángel Carrascal, former head of the cabinet of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángeles Moreno.
So far, it has not been revealed who will be the diplomats in charge of the five remaining embassies put out to tender: Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Guinea Conakry and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It cannot be ruled out, in any case, that in the coming months there could also be more appointments to embassies not included in the package put out to tender, as happened recently with Andorra, where Carlos Pérez-Desoy was appointed to replace the socialist militant Ángel Ros.
However, the ambassadors in the most important diplomatic representations – such as those of the United States, Germany, Morocco, China and Algeria – who have been in office for more than four years, have been informed that they will remain in their posts until the end of the Spanish presidency of the European Union, which will also coincide with the general elections.
