The President of the Government has started a new international tour this Tuesday. The destinations? Kenya and South Africa. The objective? Secure agreements for Spanish companies. The surprise? Begoña Gomez. The ‘first lady’, who rarely accompanies her husband on business trips, has made an exception and will travel with Pedro Sanchez and his team these days. His presence is only confirmed in one appointment within the president’s busy agenda, but it is very likely that he will accompany the Spanish leader on other occasions.
Also read: Begoña Gómez, wife of Pedro Sánchez, ends the vacation in the emergency room
We will be able to see Begoña in the Kenyan capital, where the president and his wife will visit the Business Incubators for Women, a project of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation that promotes the economic empowerment of women in the area. As we said, Begoña’s presence is not confirmed from Moncloa but she is expected to accompany her husband at lunch with her counterparts in Kenya and South Africa. In addition, the president will visit in Johannesburg the compound where the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned is located, which has become a symbol of the fight against apartheid and for democracy in South Africa.
It is not the first time that Begoña has gone abroad on a state trip without an official agenda. United States, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Italy… Moncloa considers it “abusive” to reveal the executive’s plans despite the fact that she is part of the national entourage and leaves Begoña free to choose which events she wants to attend. This circumstance has caused much criticism from the opposition, which demands to know Begoña’s functions, given that it is the State that bears her expenses abroad and that she was director of the Africa Center of the Instituto de Empresa and could have personal interests in the matter. Deputies such as María Valentina Martínez Ferro and Pablo Hispán have sent their concerns to Moncloa, since Begoña’s presence on this trip was not planned and was announced just five days ago.
