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Far-right Venezuelan politician Leopoldo LĂłpez before giving public statements from the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas and escorted by Spain's National Police Corps (CNP) agents, just days after a coup attempt led by him and former deputy GuaidĂł. Caracas, May 2, 2019. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/File photo.
This Tuesday, December 27, Spain appointed the Iberian diplomat, RamĂłn Santos MartĂnez, as its ambassador to Caracas, after two years without a diplomatic representative at that level. Santos MartĂnez was chosen to replace JesĂşs Silva, who was declared persona non grata by Caracas in November 2020 after being accused of facilitating the escape to Spain of the former opposition politician and fugitive from Venezuelan justice, Leopoldo LĂłpez.
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MartĂnez has held the position of chargĂ© d’affaires of the Spanish legation in Venezuela since November 2021, the highest diplomatic role in the country since the position of ambassador became vacant. He was also the ambassador of Spain to Panama (2015-2019) and to Bolivia (2008-2012), and was previously appointed to the Spanish embassies in Washington, Brussels-EU, and Quito.
Santos MartĂnez has headed the Spanish Embassy in Caracas since 2021, when he replaced the now secretary of state for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, Juan Fernández-Trigo.  Fernández-Trigo had been chosen by the Spanish government to improve relations with Caracas after the friction caused by the active support of the Spanish embassy not only in the escape of Leopoldo LĂłpez, but in alignment with the far-right political parties who had been trying to oust the government of Nicolás Maduro.
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“D. RamĂłn Santos MartĂnez is appointed ambassador of Spain in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” announced the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a statement issued at the end of the Council of Ministers. The Spanish measure, expected for weeks, comes after the return of several Latin American diplomats to Caracas, and the resumption of the Mexico Talks with the far-right Venezuelan opposition—the same opposition faction that in recent days has announced the ending of the imaginary “interim government” of former deputy Juan GuaidĂł.
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