The Ambassador presenting Carmena with the award./ Photo: Peruvian Embassy
The Diplomat. Madrid
The Peruvian Ambassador to Spain, Rafael Roncagliolo, conferred the Gran Cruz de la Orden “El Sol de Perú” last Wednesday on the Mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, “in recognition of her permanent concern for social issues”.
On the occasion of the award ceremony, which was held in the Peruvian Embassy in Madrid, the Ambassador, Rafael Roncagliolo Orbegoso, after referring to the notable professional career of the Mayor, emphasised that, “hers is a life filled with the constant fight for social justice, which is the fight for democracy”.
The Peruvian Government awarded Carmena the honour of the Orden El Sol del Perú in its highest degree, that of the Gran Cruz, “in recognition of her permanent concern for social issues, the achievement of better conditions for the immigrant population, particularity the Peruvian, and in order to commemorate a lifetime achievement in favour of human and social rights”, according to a communique sent to The Diplomat.
The Peruvian diplomat also highlighted the objective of the Mayor in making Madrid a “more cosmopolitan and integrating” city and her “eagerness to broaden the horizons of Madrid society to see other realities, not only on the basis of the customs of their immigrant neighbour but from multicultural events, filled with examples of other continents, of other countries and other societies”. In this sense Roncagliolo expressed his acknowledgement for the organisation of the recent International Cultures of Madrid Fair in which Peru played an active role.
For her part, the Mayor expressed her gratitude and said that “when one has moulded one’s life to ensure that it has a social utility, one feels great emotion on being recognised from abroad and hopes that this kind of social union bridge may serve to bind more and more people together ”.
