<h6><strong>Luis Ayllón</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Government plans to replace at least twenty ambassadors during the next year, according to a call made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to which <em>The Diplomat</em> had access.</strong></h4> The call, which the General Subdirectorate of Personnel of the Ministry headed by José Manuel Albares has sent to all members of the Diplomatic Service, includes the list of Embassies in which a change of head will occur during 2025. Specifically, these are the diplomatic representations in<strong> Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Chile, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Gabon, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Kenya, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, New Zealand, Dominican Republic, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.</strong> There are a total of 19, to which we must add <strong>the Embassy in Colombia</strong>, which has not been put out to tender, but which has just become vacant due to the appointment of its holder, Joaquín María de Arístegui, as the new ambassador to Argentina. Possibly, the name of the new ambassador in Bogotá will be known shortly, once the Colombian authorities give the go-ahead for the person proposed by the Spanish Government. In addition, it is foreseeable, according to diplomatic sources consulted by <em>The Diplomat</em>, that the number of replacements at the head of Embassies throughout 2025<strong> will be even greater and will affect other diplomatic representations not included</strong> in the competition. The changes, in any case, <strong>will affect some embassies currently occupied by diplomats linked to PP</strong> governments, as is the case of <strong>Hungary</strong>, where the current ambassador is <strong>Alfonso Dastis,</strong> former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Mariano Rajoy, who has held the post <strong>in Budapest since October 2022.</strong> The sources consulted indicated that <strong>Dastis</strong>, who took up the post after having been ambassador to Rome between 2018 and 2022,<strong> will continue as ambassador to Hungary until his retirement, as he will turn 70 on October 5, 2025</strong> Another of those affected by the changes will be <strong>Jorge Moragas</strong>, who was ambassador to <strong>Tanzania</strong> since July 2022, meaning he will have been in a post for three years, which is the time that ambassadors normally serve in most African countries. Moragas, <strong>former Chief of Staff of Mariano Rajoy</strong> in the Presidency of the Government, was relieved of his position as permanent representative of Spain to the United Nations in New York, in July 2018, six months after being appointed, and sent by the Government of Pedro Sánchez as ambassador to the Philippines. Likewise, the ambassador to <strong>Saudi Arabia, Jorge Hevia</strong>, who was Chief of Staff of Federico Trillo when he was Minister of Defense, will be relieved and will complete four years at the head of the Embassy in Riyadh in October 2025. Other affected ambassadors will be, in Ibero-America: <strong>Rafael Garranzo, in Santiago de Chile,</strong> where he has been since October 2021; and <strong>Antonio Pérez-Hernández, who will reach retirement age</strong>, 70 years old, in June 2025, shortly before completing four years as ambassador to the Dominican Republic. In Europe, there will also be changes: <strong>Ion de la Riva, in Ireland</strong>, with only three years in the post; <strong>Guillermo del Corral, in Estonia</strong>, where he will complete four years in August 2025; <strong>Lorea Arrizabalaga, in Slovakia</strong>, also appointed in August 2021; and <strong>Celsa Nuño, in Switzerland</strong>, who will serve four years in December 2025. In <strong>the Emirates, Íñigo de Palacio</strong>, appointed in September 2021, will be replaced; in<strong> Indonesia, Francisco Aguilera</strong>, who took up the post in October 2021; and in <strong>New Zealand, Miguel Bauzá,</strong> who will complete three years in July 2025. The greatest number of rotations will occur <strong>in Africa</strong>, where several of the current ambassadors will complete three years throughout 2025: <strong>Cameroon (Ignacio García Lumbreras), Namibia (Alberto de la Calle), Zimbabwe (Natibel Peña) and Gabon (Ramón Molina)</strong>. Only in <strong>Nigeria (Juan Sell),</strong> <strong>Kenya (Cristina Díaz</strong>) and <strong>Mauritania (Miriam Álvarez de la Rosa)</strong> did the appointments took place in the second half of 2021, so they will likely be in the post for just over three years. The call establishes that applicants for ambassador positions must state, in order of preference and up to a maximum of five, the Heads of Mission for which they are applying from among those put out to tender. In addition, they will have to send a motivation letter in which they explain in a reasoned manner aspects of their professional competence and experience that in their opinion support the requests made. To do so, they will have<strong> until the 19th of this month</strong> and, subsequently, the Undersecretary and the State Secretaries of the Department will evaluate the applications received and carry out a first selection of candidates, which will be submitted to the Minister for consideration. The notification reminds diplomats that <strong>the minister may dispense with this mechanism of preselection</strong> of candidates to occupy certain Heads of Mission positions<strong> “due to their special characteristics”</strong>. In fact, on previous occasions, despite the announcement of the competition, some of the chosen names have been known prior to its resolution.
