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Spain

Queen Letizia visits Honduras

Queen Letizia visited Honduras earlier this week to provide humanitarian support following the Hurricanes Eta and Iota that left devastating flooding in their wake in the Central American country.

Arriving on Monday at the Coronel Héctor Moncada Air Base, Queen Letizia was accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation for her two-day visit.

After first meeting with the Spanish Ambassador to Honduras and the Director of Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, the Queen visit with Spanish NGOs who have been active in the response to flooding in the Sula Valley Area, including the head of the Spanish Red Cross delegation, a representative of Action Against Hunger, and a representative of Doctors of the World.

Queen Letizia then travelled to the Coronel Armando Escalón Espinal Air Base to meet the President and First Lady of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández and Ana García. She then met with the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations and International Cooperation of Honduras, the Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union in Honduras, the Undersecretary of Cooperation and International Promotion of Honduras, and the Air Base Commander.

In the Air Base’s hangar, Queen Letizia joined the President and First Lady for an informational meeting to learn more about the damage caused by Hurricanes Eta and Iota. President Hernández presented a video of how the relief work will be carried out and then showed the Queen what humanitarian aid had been received by the Spanish delegation.

After meeting with Queen Letizia, President Hernández said, “Her Majesty Queen Letizia and the international media are helping us to visualise the tragedy that Honduras has experienced with the issue of the pandemic and the two natural phenomena.”

Queen Letizia and the President and First Lady then travelled to the Oswaldo López de Arellano Basic Education Centre to meet with officials and teachers to hear more about the educational projects facilitated there. They then travelled to the Instituto Patria to visit a shelter established there, where Queen Letizia was able to talk with families staying there about the flooding and the coronavirus.

According to Casa Real, “For six hours, Queen Letizia met with representatives of NGOs and aid workers, toured neighborhoods, muddy streets and rubble, memories of destroyed houses and schools, and destroyed and useless crops. Accompanied at all times by the President of the Republic, Juan Orlando Hernández and the First Lady, Ana García, the Secretary of State for Cooperation Ángeles Moreno and the Spanish Ambassador to Honduras, Guillermo Kirkpatrick Honduras. They appreciated the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and appreciated the Spanish cooperation.”

Queen Letizia also visited the Operations Centre of the 105th Brigade for lunch with the President and First Lady of Honduras, which marked the end of her two-day visit. The Royal House noted that Queen Letizia’s visit coincided with “the largest effort in the last 10 years by Spanish cooperation” and that her trip “sought to value the support offered by Spain and was the prelude to a long-term recovery and reconstruction plan that goes beyond emergency aid.”

Hurricanes Eta and Iota affected at least 40 per cent of the population of Honduras in November, with 500,000 evacuees and 100,000 people living in shelters as a result of the disaster.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.