The Government of Spain appointed Pilar María Terrén Lalana as its new ambassador to Nicaragua, after a year of diplomatic tension that even led to the withdrawal of the ambassadors of both countries. Sources linked to European diplomacy consider that the appointment does not entail a change in the policy of the Government of Pedro Sánchez towards the regime of Daniel Ortega, but its objective is to “activate diplomatic channels”.
The appointment of Terrén Lalana, a career diplomat, was approved on July 19 by the Council of Ministers, and was immediately ratified by the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares.
The diplomatic relationship between Nicaragua and Spain is at a low point and the tension between the two countries began to increase in June 2021, due to the illegal arrests of opposition leaders in the context of the November 7 vote, in which Ortega was re-elected without political competition, against which Spain reacted several times with energetic protests .
In the midst of these tensions, on August 11 of last year, the Spanish Government called for inquiries to its ambassador María del Mar Fernández-Palacios in response to a statement published the day before by the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry that contained, according to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “gross falsehoods about Spanish judicial and electoral processes.” Since then, the Nicaraguan regime has prevented the Spanish diplomat from returning to the country.
Last March, the Ortega regime also withdrew the Nicaraguan ambassador to Spain, Carlos Midence, on the grounds that he was allegedly being subjected to “continuous pressure and interventionist threats.”
Regime has the last word
The designated ambassador will only be able to carry out her diplomatic work in Nicaragua once she presents her copies of style before the Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada Colindres, and the credentials, before President Ortega. For this “there is no time established in any law or internal regulation or at the international level,” the sources specified.
Accreditation “depends on each government,” warned the source. Proof of this is that the ambassadors of the United States, the Ortega regime —which presents itself as a staunch enemy of Yankee imperialism— has accredited them a few days after being appointed by their country.
Otherwise, governments can spend months without saying anything about the appointment of an ambassador, which is a sign that they will not accept it. This was the case with the appointment of ambassadors of the regime to the Vatican and of Gilda Bolt, in Costa Rica. In both cases, “those states did not say anything about the appointments, so ‘diplomatic silence’ is automatically a no,” the source said.
If the regime accepts this appointment, it is possible “that later they will send someone to Spain as an ambassador, as reciprocity and a sign of lowering tensions between the two countries,” the source commented.
the new ambassador
Terrén Lalana entered the diplomatic career in 2003. She has a degree in Law from the Autonomous University of Madrid, and a diploma in the Leadership in Public Administration program.
From 2016 to the present, she served as deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.
Abroad, she has been posted twice in Mexico as deputy consul at the Consulate General and first secretary of the embassy, and in El Salvador as second head of the embassy.
