The government's efforts and the personal involvement of Felipe VI to revitalize the Ibero-American Summit have not captivated all the region's leaders as expected. Spain aimed to rejuvenate these meetings with a representation of 15 leaders. Ultimately, at the opening photo of the Summit, which will take place this afternoon at the Royal Palace, ten leaders will appear, including Spain. This number doubles the previous Summit in Ecuador, which had only four heads of state, but is far from the summit's glory years, when there were up to 17 leaders.
Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, and Spain will be the main participants. Additionally, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador will attend at the vice-presidential level. The other countries will be represented by their respective heads or heads of delegation at the level of foreign ministers, completing the list of the 22 countries involved in these meetings. Thus, three major names have dropped out, two of them being Pedro Sánchez's bets to relaunch his campaign as a leader of social democracy in Europe: Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, and Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum.
Due to both leaders' schedules, the government never had full confirmation of Lula and Sheinbaum's attendance. Delegations from Brazil and Mexico contacted the Spanish government in recent days to excuse their presence.
Specifically regarding Mexico, Sheinbaum sent a letter to Zarzuela that arrived on Monday afternoon. Until that moment, there was a sense that the efforts made by Don Felipe—who spoke of the "abuses" committed during the conquest and traveled to Mexico—would be reciprocated with her presence. This was especially true after Sheinbaum invited the King to the World Cup in another gesture of rapprochement. It is true that Sheinbaum does not usually travel abroad, but she did go to Barcelona to participate in the IV Summit for the Defense of Democracy, alongside Pedro Sánchez, Lula da Silva, Gustavo Petro, and Yamandú Orsi.
Sources from the Spanish executive refer to the Brazilian and Mexican governments for explanations regarding their leaders' absences. They indicate that these are circumstances beyond their control and the bilateral relations of Spain with these countries. The government justifies that while Sheinbaum traveled to Barcelona in April, she is a leader who does not usually travel abroad and must travel next week to receive the presidency of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), which her country will host in 2028.
Regarding Lula, government sources explain that recent elections in Brazil, marked by a historic comeback of the progressive leader, have caused fatigue and overexertion for the Brazilian president. He also has an obligatory trip in the coming days: he must travel to Antalya, where he will transfer the presidency of the COP to the president of Turkey. However, the hope and conviction that Lula could attend were such that in the PSOE, they did not rule out the possibility of staging a campaign rally alongside Pedro Sánchez during his trip.
Despite the setback posed by these absences, the Spanish government prefers to focus on the good relations with Mexico and Brazil and the joint work towards the celebration and pursuit of agreements for this summit. In the Spanish delegation, they express satisfaction with the level of participation, especially contrasting it with the last summit held in Ecuador, which had only four heads of state or presidents in attendance.
Another notable absence is that of Delcy Rodríguez, the president in charge of Venezuela under Washington's oversight. In her place, the new chancellor (foreign minister) Oliver Blanco, appointed last week, will appear, and he traveled to Washington on Monday for his first meeting with Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. Blanco comes from the opposition ranks: he was closely associated with Henry Ramos Allup, the secretary-general of the social-democratic Acción Democrática (AD), and arrived discreetly in Madrid yesterday morning.
In fact, while the arrival of many delegations was broadcast live, the Venezuelan will not be seen until today when he participates in a meeting of foreign ministers at the Santa Cruz palace. Although the government was aware of the maneuver to lift the sanctions on Delcy so she could attend, the Maduro heir was also not attracted to the event.