COMUNICACIÓN

Rebeca Grynspan took office as member of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste on the 9th of May during the Carlos V European Award solemn ceremony that was presided over by His Majesty the King, who delivered the medal to her.

Grynspan, who holds the Gabriela Mistral Chair, is the first Ibero-American personality to become part of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste, thus becoming the ninth female academic of Yuste.

When asked by the news media -once she had taken office- Rebeca Grynspan declared that it was with “great honour and sense of responsibility” that she “assumed her appointment as academic of Yuste as it is to hold the Gabriela Mistral Chair, the only Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945”.

The President of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, on his part affirmed that it was a “great honour” to have Rebeca as academic since “ her example and defence for equal opportunities and human rights is a mirror in which to look at ourselves”.

Finally, Felipe VI applauded the decision to appoint the Ibero-American Secretary General academic; an incorporation that will “contribute to enrich us with her academic, diplomatic and political knowledge”.

Rebeca Grynspan was appointed member of the Foundation’s Academy last year, on the 20th of December, by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation’s Governing Board during its first meeting after the merger between the European Academy of Yuste Foundation and the Extremaduran Centre for Studies and Cooperation with Ibero-America (CEXECI).

The first woman to join the Academy was Ursula Lehr, who became a member in the year 2000; she was then joined by Margarita Salas, Szuzsa Ferge, Maria João Pires, Mª del Carmen Cano Iglesias, Manuela Mendonça, Inge Schoenthal Feltrinelly and Monica Luisa Macovei. Her incorporation contributes to boost and consolidate the existing bonds between Europe and Ibero-America under the principles of mutual benefit and solidarity.

Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan was appointed Ibero-American Secretary General unanimously on the 24th of February 2014, becoming the first woman to hold this post. She has recently renewed her mandate for four more years as head of the General Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB) by consensus of the 22 Ibero-American countries.

She was appointed Under-Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) in 2010 and Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She was the UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean from 2006 to 2010 and Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998.

In 2014 and 2015 she was recognised as one of the 50 leading intellectuals of Latin America. In 2017 she received a Forbes Excellence Award and was granted the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso “The Wise” by the Spanish Government. She has been distinguished with an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the University of Extremadura and the European University of Madrid in recognition of her professional career.