Albares: The change of ambassador in Venezuela is carried out normally
The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, assured this Tuesday that the replacement of the current ambassador of Spain in Venezuela by the chief of staff of the Minister of Culture, Álvaro Albacetea career diplomat, is a change that occurs “completely normally.”
He also indicated that Albacete It has “enormous experience” and offers “all the guarantees” so that Spain’s interests in Venezuela are “perfectly protected.”
«It is a completely normal change. The current ambassador, the ambassador who has been until now, was practically close to seventy years old, which is the retirement age for diplomats. He had a few months left and, therefore, it had to be done,” he said.
The politician expressed himself in this sense upon his arrival at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers taking place between today and Wednesday in Brussels.
«The ambassador we have appointed today He is an ambassador with enormous experience in very different scenarios, multilaterally and bilaterally, both abroad and also with senior officials in Spain. It offered us all the guarantees so that the interests of Spain, which is what is important, are perfectly protected in Caracas,” Albares stressed.
Álvaro Albacete, the new Spanish ambassador in Venezuela
The chief of staff of the Spanish Minister of Culture, Álvaro Albacete, a career diplomat, will be the new Spanish ambassador in Venezuela, replacing Ramón Santos, who is retiring, a change that comes at a complicated stage for bilateral relations due to the reception in Spain handed over to opposition leader Edmundo González.
Foreign sources have confirmed to EFE that Albacete will take over at the Caracas Embassy, thus leaving the Urtasun cabinet – minister of Sumar, left-wing partners of the socialist Government -, which he arrived in November 2023.
Among other positions, the new ambassador has been deputy secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), in charge of the Environment, Blue Economy and Water and Higher Research Education.
He has also served as Deputy Secretary General of the International Dialogue Center, based in Vienna, representing Spain, and as diplomatic advisor in the cabinet of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
In addition, he has been general director of Casa Sefarad and ambassador in Special Mission responsible for Spain’s relations with Jewish Communities and Organizations, a position in which his mission was to prepare and promote the Law that Parliament would approve to facilitate Spanish nationality for Jews of Sephardic origin.
Albacete faces this new destiny at a difficult time between Spain and Venezuela, aggravated after the Venezuelan elections of last July 28, after the opposition leader, Edmundo González, although he has not been recognized by the Spanish Executive as legitimate president, ended taking refuge in the Spanish embassy and later traveled to Madrid to request political asylum.
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