Madrid summit draws ten leaders as Lula, Sheinbaum and Rodríguez stay away

The Madrid Ibero-American Summit opens on Wednesday, 4 November. Leaders from ten of its 22 member states will be there. The meeting ends on Thursday.

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will stay away. So will Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez. Each country will send its foreign minister instead.

Argentina’s Javier Milei will attend. Spain says no private talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are planned. The two men will meet at the summit after Milei’s harsh public attacks on Sánchez.

Who will be there

Spain says ten nations will send their head of state or government. They are Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Andorra.

Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador will send their vice-presidents. Other members will send foreign ministers. Peru and Paraguay pulled their leaders out late for reasons at home.

Spain says Sheinbaum makes few trips abroad. She is also due to go to an APEC meeting in China this month. It links Lula’s absence to Brazil’s recent election and his next trip to Turkey for COP31.

Rodríguez is under European Union sanctions. Spanish officials say they could have sought a pass for her visit. They also point to the tense political scene in Venezuela. Oliver Blanco, the new foreign minister, will lead its team.

Spain says it is pleased that all 22 members will still have a seat. It says the turnout is better than at the 2024 summit in Cuenca. That meeting ended with no joint political statement.

What the summit plans

King Felipe VI will chair the main talks on Thursday morning. The meeting will be held at the Gallery of the Royal Collections. A press conference is set for 17:15.

Leaders plan to back joint work on artificial intelligence. They also want a new group to help states deal with floods, fires and other disasters. It will link civil defence teams and have its own emergency fund. Spain will give €1 million to help start it.

Other plans aim to make it easier to use degrees and study across member states. Leaders will also discuss care, support and new ways for countries to work together. They hope to agree a short political statement and more than 35 joint texts from ministers.

UN chief António Guterres, European Council head António Costa and EU official Teresa Ribera have been invited. Honduras is due to host the next summit in 2028.

Sources: El Español, Europa Press, La Vanguardia and Expansión.