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King Felipe VI of Spain arrives in Santo Domingo for the inauguration of Abinader
Santo Domingo, August 15 (EFE) – King Felipe VI of Spain arrived in Santo Domingo on Thursday, where he will attend the inauguration ceremony of Dominican President Luis Abinader for his second and final term tomorrow. At around 2:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT), the official plane of the Kingdom of Spain landed at Las Americas International Airport, where fifteen minutes later Felipe VI was received at the foot of the stairs by the Director of State. Ceremonies and protocols of the Dominican Chancellery, Francisco Cantinazo, and the Spanish Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Antonio Pérez Hernández. Immediately afterwards, the Deputy Consular Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eupenio Díaz, received the Deputy Minister of Dominican Communities Abroad, Carlos de la Mota, and the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to Spain, Juan Bolivar. The King was accompanied on his visit, which will last just over a day in the Dominican Republic before embarking on his return flight tomorrow, by the Secretary of State for Latin America, the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Somilzo. Upon his arrival in Santo Domingo, Felipe VI will begin a wide-ranging agenda that will take him first to the National Palace to meet Abinader. He will then meet a representative of the Spanish community in the Dominican Republic and meet with the President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, and then attend the visit and reception that Abinader will offer his guests in the Cathedral and the Castle Museum, in the Colonial Zone of the capital. On Friday, the King will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Abinader and his Vice President, Raquel Peña, and then, at the National Palace, the reception and lunch that the Dominican President will offer his guests. This is the 86th inauguration that Don Felipe has attended since 1996, 17 of them already as King of Spain. This year alone, he has attended three other investment events in Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama. Felipe VI is one of the 14 heads of state and/or government who attended Abinader’s inauguration, along with the Presidents of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo; and of Panama, José Raúl Molino; From Paraguay, Santiago Peña; from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; from Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi; and from El Salvador, Félix Ulloa. Also scheduled to attend are the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro; from Honduras, Xiomara Castro; and from Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, among others. Abinader’s inauguration comes at a time when attention is focused on the situation in Venezuela after the July 28 elections, in which the National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner, a victory that was rejected by most of the opposition and questioned by many governments. Therefore, since a large part of the region’s leaders are in Santo Domingo for Abinader’s inauguration, an informal conversation on Venezuela will be held in the Dominican capital. On July 31, 17 governments at the Organization of American States voted in favor of a resolution calling on the Venezuelan authorities to publish the minutes of the elections “immediately,” an initiative that ultimately failed. The countries that voted in favor of the resolution were Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay. (c) EFE Agency
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