Prince and Princess of Asturias visit Colombia: Day Two

Once the visit began, some media reported today about the Colombian expectations of this visit. The expectation is based on many factors. “One is for the ‘glamour’ which is seeing, from the Latin-American side, all that has to do with the European royal families, especially the Spanish ones, and because it is a visit in which the political content is not going to be absent, especially with the participation of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia in the ‘V International on Victims of Terrorism’,” reported Fran Sevilla, correspondent of Spanish TV in Colombia, today.

It is not a State Visit, and Prince Felipe is not a head of the state, but this is the treatment that the Colombian Government want to give to the first visit of the Prince and Princess of Asturias, to which the Colombian government grants a great importance due the good relations between both nations who are specially linked in terrorims issues.

The schedule is quite busy. Yesterday, May 27, they were received with state honours in the official welcome ceremony held at Nariño’s House parade ground, where an official meeting between the Prince of Asturias and President Uribe and a private meeting of Princess Letizia and Colombian First Lady, Lina Moreno, also took place.

From Nariño’s House, the Prince and the Princess went to Simon Bolivar Square to lay down flowers in front of the monument dedicated to the hero of the independence of the Andean states. Afterwards, Felipe and Letizia visited the Bogotá town hall, and met with the Mayor, Samuel Moreno, who presented Their Royal Highnesses with the key of the city and appointed them illustrious guests.

At the town hall room called Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, the Prince declared that the Princess and he “feel, in some way, bogotanos (native of Bogota), and in this way also it pleases us to be able to express the respect and the affection that the Spaniards feel for this great nation… Its successes make us happy and we grow sad with its sufferings.”

At midday, the Prince and Princess visited the Court House, and the Capitol where they had a meeting with representatives of both national institutions. In the evening, President Alvaro Uribe and his wife hosted an official dinner at Nariño’s house in honour of Bogotá’s “illustrious guests”, the Prince and Princess of Asturias.

Filed under Spain
Tagged Bilateral Relations, Colombia, Felipe VI of Spain, Media, Official Visit, President Uribe of Colombia, Queen Letizia of Spain, Terrorism.