It’s been around nine months since US President Donald Trump announced that Cuban-American businessman Benjamin León Jr. would be the new ambassador to Spain, but he still hasn’t taken up his post.
Previous US ambassador Julissa Reynoso left her post in July 2024, meaning there has now been no ambassador to Spain in well over a year.
“Benjamin is a highly successful entrepreneur, equestrian enthusiast and philanthropist. He came to the United States from communist Cuba at age 16, with only five dollars in his pocket, and built his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time, the social media platform he had set up after being kicked off Twitter, now X.
READ ALSO: Trump picks Cuban-American businessman as new US ambassador to Spain
León has still not taken up his post as head of the embassy in Madrid as he is pending confirmation by the US Senate, which could take an unknown amount of time.
For this to happen, León must undertake two more steps in the process. First, the ambassador must take a test with the Foreign Relations Committee, which must validate his appointment. This will then be passed on to the Senate, which must approve it again.
These votes are pending, and there is still no scheduled date yet for them to happen.
This is partly because Trump appointed hundreds of public officials at a similar time, which must all pass the Senate. This means that neither authorities in the US nor in Spain know exactly when León will arrive.
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Meanwhile, the embassy is being led by Chargé d’Affaires Rian Harker Harris, a career diplomat in the Foreign Service.
Authorities have made it clear that this delay is not due to the state of diplomatic relations between the two countries, even though Spain is not a priority for Trump and he did not include them in his first or second round of international contacts when he first came into power.
It’s common for a new US ambassador to arrive in Spain to take a while though. Julissa Reynoso was ratified by the Senate in December 2021, a total of eleven months after former US President Joe Biden won the election.
A senior State Department official told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that, “During the second Trump administration, we had the fastest State Department nominee confirmation process in decades. We expect Benjamin León to advance the America First foreign policy agenda in his capacity as U.S. ambassador to Spain and Andorra, following his Senate confirmation”.
León was born in Oriente, Cuba, in 1944. His family emigrated to the United States 1961 after the Cuban Revolution and he arrived in Miami at the age of 16, followed by his parents and brother that same year.
