An American in command rarely misses the opportunity to show himself close to the man on the street, synonymous with the middle class that has brought progress to his country. Julissa Reynoso, United States ambassador to Spain, 49 years old, was a DJ in Cambridge in her spare time. “I earned a lot of money.” And without breaking down because she brought tapes from her neighborhood, the Bronx, and dazzled with a rhythm unknown in Europe: hip-hop.
Julissa Reynoso, born in the Dominican Republic, raised in the Bronx, won over the audience – two hundred subscribers to La Vanguardia – without the need for jokes or artifice. It is not every day that you meet such an impeccable symbol of the American dream. Humble family, immigrant, religious, united and determined to progress.
–Does it represent the American dream?
–Yes, like many others. The United States gives many opportunities to study, even today. I dedicated myself to studying and did so at Harvard, Cambridge and Columbia, always with scholarships!
We all need funny stories. “She has been very good, interesting and a very human person. I don’t know if she would have attended if she were a Trump ambassador,” says subscriber Montse Oliveros, as she left the Barcelona Bar Association, which hosted this Vanguardia Forum event.
Ambassadors do not create problems for their governments, it is the governments that usually create their ambassadors. Reynoso, who spoke in Spanish, reflected the serene state of relations between Spain and the United States: he did not make a single reproach to the recognition of Palestine as a State – “we are not in favor of unilateral recognition, but we respect Spain’s position.” – although he expressed notable differences: “We do not share the term genocide associated with the Government of Israel” and criticized the International Criminal Court for placing the Israeli Government and Hamas on the same judicial level. He downplayed the absence of ships in international missions in the Red Sea or the fact that Spain does not comply with the commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, sealed within the Atlantic Alliance.
The change in Spanish position on Western Sahara? “We had nothing to do with it.”
Reynoso entered public life through friendship with Hillary Clinton and her subsequent relationship – “I’m almost family” – with the Bidens. He had to be asked even knowing that he would not give his opinion in the US electoral race, which is why he was very careful not to devalue Donald Trump, elected by the Republicans – he recalled – after an impeccable electoral process.
Sánchez-Milei? No comment. But can you imagine Joe Biden offending a president in his own country?
–It’s not his style.
Applause. Two darts: alert to Russian disinformation in the European Parliament elections and Chinese protectionism.
Catalonia? He has never been asked in Washington.
