Colombian president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella announced Sunday that his administration, taking office on 7 August, will close at least fourteen embassies – including missions in Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua – as part of a diplomatic network restructuring, while vowing to cut diplomatic relations with the revolutionary governments in Havana and Managua.
“In a first stage, I will close the embassies of Algeria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Cuba, Czechia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Romania, Senegal, South Africa,” De la Espriella said in a statement on his social media.
Colombian nationals residing in the countries where embassies are being closed will continue to receive consular assistance through concurrent representation from other regional diplomatic missions.
As part of the revamp, De la Espriella announced the reopening of Colombia’s embassy in Israel, to be based in Jerusalem, as he pledged during his campaign. Likewise, he will halt the planned mission to Palestine.
De la Espriella also plans to unify representations he considers to be duplicating functions, such as the embassies in France and before UNESCO in Paris, as well as those in Italy and before the FAO in Rome, with a single ambassador assuming both posts in each case.
Within his first 100 days in office, the president-elect said he will order a technical audit of all remaining diplomatic missions to “assess their viability”.
Despite this set of measures, De la Espriella upholds that his government’s diplomacy will focus on defending Colombia’s interests abroad.
Author: vmmh
Source: EFE
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