Godspeed, Jesús Silva

There may have been envoys who served their country's interest as well in Jamaica, but none, we dare say, than Jesús Silva who, on October 9, ends a five-year stint as Spain's ambassador in Kingston.

In the process, Jamaica benefited, and relations between Kingston and Madrid are today better than any time in the 355 years since those two incompetents, Penn and Venables, frightened an even more incompetent garrison away from Jamaica.

Beneath Señor Silva's good looks and charming, debonair personality is an astute diplomat who grasped, firmly, the concepts of commercial diplomacy. Indeed, he played no small role in the expansion of his country's business interest in Jamaica, with the slew of Spanish hotels that have been set up here in recent years.

His success has been helped, in part, by two factors: he sought to know and really understand Jamaica and Jamaicans, so he could provide potential investors with realistic analyses of the country; and he was clear that for things to work both sides have to benefit. In that regard, Jamaica was a real country and more than a piece of real estate.

We wish Señor Silva well in his next assignment.

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