Ignacio Rupérez Rubio (17 October 1943 – 25 December 2015) was a Spanish

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

, journalist, and writer. Rupérez was appointed Ambassador to Iraq on 3 June 2005, becoming the first Ambassador to Iraq since 1991, when the Spanish embassy in Baghdad was closed during the Gulf War. He served as Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 until 2008. He was later appointed Ambassador to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. Rupérez was the brother of Javier Rupérez, a diplomat and politician. Rupérez began his career as a newspaper journalist, including ''

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'' and ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

''. He became a Spanish diplomat in 1980. His first diplomatic posting was to Cairo, Egypt. He transferred to Tel Aviv, Israel, which had recently established diplomatic relations with Spain, in 1986. Rupérez was next posted to the Embassy of Spain in Havana, Cuba, from 1989 to 1992. He was then sent to Kyiv, Ukraine, as a deputy in 1992. Ignacio Rupérez was posted to the Spanish diplomatic mission in Iraq by the government of José María Aznar in 1997. Spain had closed its embassy and recalled its ambassador in 1991 during the first Gulf War. Since there was no ambassador, Ruperez was posted as

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

until 2000. He became the Vice President of the Comité Hispano-Americano in 2003. On 3 June 2005 Ignacio Rupérez was appointed Ambassador to Iraq, becoming the first Spanish ambassador since 1991. He served as Ambassador from 2005 to 2008. In a 2008 interview with ''

'', Rupérez called the situation in Iraq and the Iraq War "more complicated than Vietnam." He later published his book, "Collateral Damage," in which he criticized the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. Rupérez was next appointed Ambassador to Honduras in 2009. However, then President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup d'état during the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis shortly before Rupérez was scheduled to arrive in the country. The government of Spanish Prime Minister

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...

criticized Zelaya's ouster. As a result, Rupérez was denied entry into Honduras by the new Honduran government. Instead, Rupérez spent the first fourteen months of his Ambassadorship to Honduras stationed at the Spanish Embassy in neighboring

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. He was finally allowed into Honduras when relations between the two countries improved. Most recently, Rupérez has served as Ambassador-at-large for Muslim Communities and Organizations Abroad. Ignacio Rupérez died at a hospital in Madrid on 25 December 2015 at the age of 72, following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruperez, Ignacio 1943 births 2015 deaths Spanish journalists Ambassadors of Spain to Iraq Ambassadors of Spain to Honduras People from Madrid