Queen Letizia of Spain is set to travel to Honduras to deliver humanitarian aid next week ahead of Christmas. She is visiting to learn more about the impact of recent Hurricanes Eta and Iota on the country and to express Spain’s solidarity with the Honduran people.
The Queen will travel alongside the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno Bau and will be in the country on 14 and 15 December.
Part of the aid being delivered includes rapid COVID test kits; in total, 120 tonnes of cargo is being transported. This will be the most substantial amount of aid from the Spanish Cooperation Agency in the last ten years.
Queen Letizia will also visit a school and shelter in the Sula Valley, which are the areas that were hardest hit by the hurricanes. Forty per cent of the population was impacted by the storms and saw half a million people be forced to evacuate. Over 100,000 are in shelters, and over half of students do not currently have access to the internet.
Her Majesty also will meet with representatives from the Spanish Cooperation and NGOs in the Central American country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release about the trip: “The Queen’s visit is also intended to contribute to raising awareness and mobilizing the international community as a whole about the seriousness of the situation and the need to redouble efforts in critical areas such as education, health and climate change.”
“This humanitarian aid trip seeks to value the support offered by Spain and will be the prelude to a long-term recovery and reconstruction plan that goes beyond emergency aid,” they added.
Letizia was last in Honduras on a humanitarian trip in 2015. In the past, she has also visited Senegal, the Dominican Republic, Mozambique, Haiti and El Salvador alongside the Spanish Cooperation.
