Foreign Minister Diana Mondino is beginning her term in office with a spell of intense activity, recalling ambassadors and envoys and altering Argentina’s diplomatic corps
The initial hours of her new job were spent dealing with the international leaders who arrived for new President Javier Milei’s inauguration and in recent days, in between Cabinet meetings, she has been dedicated to hiring and firing Argentine envoys before the United Nations (UN) and several major nations.
This is accounted for in a recent letter from her desk, dated December 13, that was sent to the portfolio’s Human Resources Department. It requests an administrative bill altering eight heads of Argentine delegations abroad.
The list starts with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Gustavo Teodoro Grippo, whom they intend to move from Argentina’s Embassy in Ethiopia back to the Foreign Ministry. Another envoy, María del Carmen Squeff, will also be returned from the Permanent Embassy of the United Nations to the Ministry’s headquarters.
Thirdly, Mondino ordered the transfer of Vatican Ambassador María Fernanda Silva from the Holy See to the Ministry. The list also continues with a second-tier official in London, First-Class Plenipotentiary Minister Leonardo Daniel Constantino, whom she seeks to recall from Argentina’s UK Embassy.
The La Libertad Avanza official also ordered the transfer of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Federico Villegas from Argentina’s Permanent Mission to the International Organisations in Geneva, Switzerland, back to Buenos Aires.
Ambassadors in India, Hugo Javier Gobbi, and Russia, Eduardo Antonio Zuain, have also been recalled, along with a veteran of the foreign service.
“We are also dismissing as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the European Union, First-Class Plenipotentiary Minister Atilio Berardi Hueda,” reads the circular, accessed by Perfil.
Mondino’s work is just beginning, and so far names to head the Argentine Embassies in the United States, Brazil, India, Israel, the Organisation of American States and the G20 have been confirmed.
The choice for the United States is businessman Gerardo Werthein; veteran Peronist politician and ex-Buenos Aires Province governor Daniel Scioli will continue on as Argentina's envoy in Brazil; and Mariano Caucino will take over the Indian mission.
Over the last few days, it also became known that Rabbi Axel Wahnish, a figure extremely close to President Milei in religious instruction and faith, will represent the country in Israel.
For the Argentine mission to the Organisation of American States (OAS) the choice is Sonia Cavallo, while Federico Pinedo will be the nation’s sherpa or representative to the G20 group of nations.
One of the rumours in the diplomatic arena is that Mondino will eventually appoint former Foreign minister Jorge Faurie, in charge of the portfolio during Mauricio Macri’s 2015-2019 government, to a key role. He has a good relationship with the new government and was one of the collaborators for Milei’s presidential inauguration on December 10.
There are other names rumoured too – mostly younger career diplomats. While outlining the map of representations, there is a full-on tug of war between Mondino’s expectations and Milei’s intentions. A balance is being sought, say government sources.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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