Benjamín León Jr, new US ambassador to Spain.
Credit: Leon Medical Centers.
President-elect Donald Trump has put forward Cuban-born businessman Benjamín León Jr. as his next ambassador to Spain, a position that is currently vacant due to the premature retirement of Julissa Reynoso.
‘He came to the United States from communist Cuba when he was 16 years old, with only five dollars in his pocket, and managed to turn his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business,’ said Trump on X, praising the virtues of his candidate.
Billionaire Cuban businessman started out with the humblest beginnings
Born in Oriente (Cuba) in 1944, his family left the Caribbean island in 1961, after the Cuban revolution. He started working in Miami washing dishes and delivering newspapers until eventually he became a millionaire businessman, according to Florida media profiles. He is a self-declared anti-Communist and donor to the Republican Party, which he has supported from the beginning of Trump’s campaigns.
León, 80 years old, must still receive the approval of the Senate, without a fixed timetable for this type of procedure. The Upper House will first prioritise resolving the confirmation of Trump‘s cabinet when he takes his place in the Oval Office once more on January 20.
During his first tenure in the White House, Donald Trump turned to another person from the business field, Duke Buchan, to represent the interests of the United States in Spain and Andorra.
Incumbent president Joe Biden put Democrat Julissa Reynoso into the US Embassy in Madrid. She resigned from the post on July 4 and has not since been replaced.
