Cervantes leaves González-Sinde without directing the Los Angeles center

The Cervantes Institute has announced the appointment of seven new directors, including the coveted Los Angeles post , which Ángeles González-Sinde had been applying for. However, the former Socialist minister, who did not have the support of Luis García Montero, was ultimately chosen for this position. Instead, it was Javier Muñoz-Basols, PhD in Translation and Language Sciences, who was chosen. González-Sinde also applied for the position of director of the Manchester center, but was also unsuccessful. In her place, the Cervantes Institute has chosen Martín López-Vega , the current Director of the Institute's Institutional Office. Both positions are paid salaries of €162,032 (Los Angeles) and €164,060 (Manchester).

González-Sinde has come out on the losing end of this game of thrones that has kept García Montero, who was not keen on reinstating the former minister , busy these past few weeks with other government sectors that wanted to place her in Los Angeles. Proof of this tension is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took a month to approve the proposal made to the Cervantes Institute, which did not include the president of the Reina Sofía Museum's Board of Trustees. The announced appointments had been "on the cards" for a month...

In addition to the new directors of the Los Angeles and Manchester centers, Luis García Montero has appointed Carlos Madrid as head of the Albuquerque (USA) center; Francisco de Asís Ayala in Curitiba (Brazil); Francisco Oda in Dublin (Ireland); Luis Ángel Macías in Recife (Brazil); and Marina Alonso in Tunisia. The director of the Cervantes University appointed them at the proposal of the Secretary General, Carmen Noguero, with the approval of the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World and President of the Board of Directors, Susana Sumelzo, and after hearing the Board of Directors, the institution reports.

Javier Muñoz-Basols (Sariñena, Huesca, 1974), the new director in Los Angeles, holds a PhD in Translation and Language Sciences from Pompeu Fabra University. He is currently the Beatriz Galindo Distinguished Senior Research Fellow at the University of Seville and an Honorary Research Professor at the University of Oxford. He has been an R&D+i Research Fellow at the University of Seville and a full professor and director of the language program in the Department of Spanish at the University of Oxford. He is a Principal Investigator at the Virtual Community of Spanish (COMUN-ES) and the Hispanic Linguistics Portal. He is president of the Association for the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ASELE), a trustee of the Instituto Cervantes, a correspondent for the Permanent Observatory of Hispanism of the Duques de Soria Foundation, and a Corresponding Academician of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE).

Carlos Madrid (Madrid, 1976), the new director in Albuquerque, holds a degree in History from the Complutense University. He has served as coordinator of the academic journal 'Revista Española del Pacífico', editor-in-chief of 'Filipiniana.net', advisor and academic coordinator of the Spanish Cultural Cooperation Program with the Philippines and the Pacific Islands of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, technical assistant to the Ministry of Culture, associate professor of History at the Micronesia Area Research Center (which he later directed) at the University of Guam (USA), and professor of History of the Spanish Pacific at the same university. Between 2014 and 2018, he was director of the Instituto Cervantes center in Manila.

Francisco de Asís Ayala (Fuengirola, Málaga, 1984), the new director in Curitiba, holds a degree in Economics from the Complutense University and a master's degree in Accounting and Tax Consulting from the School of Business Studies. He has worked at the Andalusian Agency for Foreign Promotion (Extenda), conducting sectoral analyses in Japan and China; EOS Ibérica, participating in the creation of the export department; and Tedagua-Grupo Cobra, managing projects in the Maghreb, based in Algeria and Tamil Nadu (India). He is an administrator of the Instituto Cervantes in Rio de Janeiro and the administrative coordinator of the Instituto Cervantes in Curitiba.

Francisco Manuel Oda (La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz, 1970), the new director in Dublin, holds a PhD in International Law, International Relations, and Sociology. He was an associate professor at the Complutense University and an associate and later full professor at the Rey Juan Carlos University. Between 2004 and 2010, he was head of studies at the Diplomatic School. He subsequently served as director of the Instituto Cervantes centers in Gibraltar, Manchester-Leeds, and Tetouan. He directed the Gibraltar Cross-Border Institute, the first joint institution of the Government of Gibraltar and the Provincial Council of Cádiz.

Martín López-Vega (Póo de Llanes, Asturias, 1975), the new director of the Manchester-Leeds publishing house, holds a PhD in Literature. He has served as Deputy Director of the La Central bookstore in Callao, Director of Vaso Roto Ediciones, and Director General of Culture and Heritage of the Principality of Asturias, among other positions. At the Instituto Cervantes, he served as Director of Culture (2017-2019) and Director of the Institutional Cabinet (2019 to the present). In 2021, he received the International Impact Award from the University of Iowa. In 2022, he received the Mediterráneo Prize in Italy for his entire poetic work. He is a translator of English, Portuguese, and Italian and has been a literary critic for the cultural supplements of ABC, El Mundo, El País, and La Vanguardia, among others.

Luis Ángel Macías (Ponferrada, León, 1970), the new director in Recife, holds a degree in German Philology from the University of Valladolid, a Master's degree in Cultural Management from the University of Barcelona, ​​and a Master's degree in Applied Linguistics for Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from the University of Jaén. He has taught Spanish at the Technical University of Wels (Upper Austria) and at the Institutes of Romance Languages ​​and Modern Languages ​​at the University of Salzburg. He has also served as Director of Studies at the Instituto Cervantes in Casablanca, Bremen, Hamburg, Vienna, Budapest, and Munich.

Marina Alonso Abal (Vigo, Pontevedra, 1974), the new director in Tunis, holds a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Vigo, a Master's degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, and a Master's degree in continuing education in the direction, organization, and management of educational centers. She has taught Spanish at Saint Esprit University in Kaslik and Saint Joseph University in Beirut (both in Lebanon). At the Instituto Cervantes, she has been a teacher and academic coordinator at the center in Oran and head of studies at the center in Bucharest. She is currently head of studies at the Instituto Cervantes in Sao Paulo.