Felipe VI met this Thursday in Santo Domingo with the Dominican head of state, Luis Abinader, on the first day of his trip to the Dominican Republic to attend the presidential inauguration this Friday. Official commitments come in a difficult week due to the death of his cousin, Juan Gómez-Acebo, on Monday from cancer. The death of the son of the Infanta Pilar, five months after that of her brother Fernando, caught the king and queen and their children on private vacation. The funeral in Madrid was postponed by decision of the family until September.
After arriving shortly before at Las Américas International Airport in the Dominican capital, the king – who traveled without Queen Letizia, who is still on vacation, as are Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía – went to the National Palace to hold a private meeting with Abinader and there, in front of the steps, he was received with honors by the Presidential Guard.
“Welcome back to the Dominican Republic,” were the words with which the Dominican Minister of the Presidency, Joel Santos, welcomed Felipe VI as they shook hands.
They then headed to the meeting place, together with the Spanish Secretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo; the Spanish ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Antonio Pérez-Hernández, and the head of His Majesty’s Household, Camilo Villarino, among other personalities.
On the Dominican side, Abinader was accompanied, in addition to Joel Santos, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez, and the Vice Minister of Bilateral Foreign Policy, José Julio Gómez.
During the meeting, which lasted for an hour, according to information from the Dominican Presidency, Abinader was given a book on the history of Santo Domingo.
Meeting with the Spanish community
The son of Juan Carlos I then continued his agenda with an audience with representatives of the Spanish community in the Dominican Republic, at the residence of the Spanish ambassador.
Some 80 people had the opportunity to greet Felipe VI and talk with him, including representatives from the economic and business sector, international organizations and cooperation, the media and the world of culture, along with diplomatic personnel, the educational sector and leaders of Spanish centers, among others.
Felipe VI then traveled to the colonial area of Santo Domingo for the visit and reception that Abinader is offering his guests tonight at the Cathedral Museum and the Ozama Fortress.
The monarch is one of the fourteen heads of state and/or government who will attend Abinader’s inauguration ceremonies, along with the presidents of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo; of Panama, José Raúl Mulino; of Paraguay, Santiago Peña; of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, as well as the vice president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa. The attendance of the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro; of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, and of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, among others, is also expected.
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