The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, has defended this Monday that, although the appointment of the ambassador to Spain, Javier Velasco, was «political», it is based on his professional skills. «He is not for being my friend,» he has defended after the latest controversies.
Velasco has been criticized by the opposition both for his statements about former governments and for his publications in social networks, although Boric has always defended his capacity as Chile’s top diplomatic representative in Spain.
«I don’t know the ideas that will be passed around regarding intimate friendships or not, but he is not there for that reason, he is there for his professional competences», said Boric of Velasco, in an interview on TVN in which he challenged former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero or congressmen who would have an «impeccable» opinion of him to ask about the ambassador.
Boric, who pointed out that Spain «is a particularly important country» for his government, defended that «throughout the history of international relations» embassies with career civil servants have been combined with other «political» ones, as would be the case of the Madrid legation.
